


Behind Closed Doors

by ComingandGoingByBubble



Category: Wicked - All Media Types, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-04 00:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 50,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5313947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComingandGoingByBubble/pseuds/ComingandGoingByBubble
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two years after Elphaba and Fiyero's deaths, Glinda is now ruling Oz with the help of her husband Chuffrey. When a criminal escapes and rumors are being spread about a certain Witch and Scarecrow being back, how will Glinda handle all of this? Booksical.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also posted on my Fanfiction.net account: ComingAndGoingByBubble

"Glinda, dear, come out please" called out Lord Chuffrey as he tried to get into his wife's room at the Emerald City Palace. His wife, Glinda the Good had been in there for most of the day due to an 'illness' as she called it but he was not buying it. She was not sick, but he could not get her to come out of her room. She had locked her door, and forbade anyone to come in no matter what. He could not figure out what was wrong with her.

Ever since they had been married which had been right after the departure of the Wizard and the arrest of Madame Morrible, Glinda had at least one day where she would lock herself in her room and not talk to anyone.

No servants would be allowed inside, and not even her husband. She claimed that it was just a day of meditation for her mind and soul, but no one close to her believed that. Everyone though that she had finally gone crazy, reached her breaking point, but the next day she would be perfectly fine. It baffled her physicians and doctors to no end as well as her husband. Ever since Glinda had taken charge of ruling Oz, and yes it was she who ruled not Chuffrey, she had to be shape and had to be healthy mentally. It was on these days that Chuffrey and the rest of Oz feared for her sanity.

Inside the room, Glinda could hear her husband calling for her, but she ignored him. She had been sobbing silently for the past six hours, and was not about to be disturbed now. This was her ritual as strange as it was this was how she coped with Fiyero and Elphaba's deaths. She devoted one day to them, and she spent it alone. Crying, sobbing and feeling utterly guilty were all she did that day. It was not the meditation day that she had told the citizens of Oz.

She was now lying down on her bed, clutching Elphaba's green bottle and Fiyero's engagement ring that he had given to her years earlier as sobs racked her body. It had been two year since their deaths and she still could not get them out of her mind. She still cared about them.

She held up the bottle in the light, and examined it for the millionth time. She couldn't believe it when she found out that Elphaba's father had been the Wizard. She had kept the bottle as a reminder of Elphaba. The engagement ring however was the only thing that she had left of Fiyero, and so she kept that. When she married Chuffrey, the servants had gotten rid of most of Fiyero's things and only the ring remained. Glinda hid it, and only took it out on days like this.

Her blonde curls were wet from having her tears fall on them and they stuck to her face. Her eyes were puffy and red, but still pretty with that beautiful blue color. Her lips quivered like rose petals blowing in the breeze.  
One could say that she looked tragically upset and beautiful.

She heard Chuffrey call her name again, and still she ignored him. She was not in the mood to be bothered, and he of all people should know to leave her alone.

Glinda sat up, and once again tortured herself by replaying the last time she ever saw Elphaba again in her mind.

Glinda entered Kiamo Ko in a hurry. She knew that the Witch Hunters would be here soon, and she had to warn Elphaba. She clattered up the steps to the highest tower where Elphaba was, and burst through the door to find Elphaba trying to get Chistery to talk.

Elphaba turned and saw Glinda.

"Go away," she commanded coldly.

Glinda, a little hurt, did not back off, "They're coming for you!"

"Go away!" screeched Elphaba, her patience lost.

"Let the little girl go, and that poor little dog too, Dodo," begged Glinda taking a few steps closer to Elphaba with caution.

Glinda then took a breath, "I know you don't want to hear this, but someone has to say it… you are out of control I mean, they're just shoes let it go! Elphaba, you can't go on like this."

Elphaba whirled on her, her black skirts flying, "I can do anything I want. I am THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST!"

She was interrupted when another flying monkey came in with a letter, "At last!" exclaimed Elphaba taking the letter from him and she looked at it, "What's this? Why are you bothering me with this?"

But then she reads on, and Glinda came down the stairs fully in anticipation of what was written in the note.

"What is it?" asked Glinda, "What's wrong?" Suddenly it clicked, she weakly croaked out, "It's Fiyero, isn't it? Is he-?"

Elphaba's face paled, and she faced away from Glinda.

"We've seen his face for the last time," she said calmly.

Glinda nearly collapsed at the thought, and cried out, "Oh no!"

"You're right. It's time I surrender," said Elphaba looking at her and grabbing a bucket of water from the floor and put it near the trapdoor to the cellar.

"Elphie… Elphie, what is it?" asked Glinda, suddenly confused and scared at her friend's actions.

"You can't be found here, you must go," Elphaba commanded motioning to the corner of the room that was hidden in the shadows.

"No," argued Glinda standing her ground.

"You must leave," strained Elphaba looking at her.

"No, Elphie I'll tell them everything!" begged Glinda not wanting to lose her best friend as she had just lost her ex fiance.

"No, they'll only turn against you!" pointed out the Witch.

"I don't care," admitted Glinda, who really didn't.

"I do! Promise me, promise me that you won't try to clear my name, promise?"

Glinda sighed, her throat tightening, and her eyes clouded by tears, "Alright, I promise. But I don't understand…"

Glinda was pulled out of her memories by her door being suddenly rammed down by the soldiers of the Gale Force. Surprised, and quite angry with them for ruining her ornately decorated door, she jumped up, wiped her tears away and scolded them.

"What is this? What is this? If a lady wants to be alone, she has the right to do so in the privacy of her room without the thought that her own guards would disrupt her by knocking down a very pricy and architecturally stable door! Now tell me why you have broken my door and disturbed me?"

The Gale Force saluted her politely, and she eyed them warily. None of them spoke until their Commander, Commander Cherrystone came in and saluted Glinda.

"Lady Glinda, my apologizes about your door but we have more pressing issues at hand that could not wait until tomorrow," he said staring at her.

She wiped her eyes, and stood up straight and looked at him evenly in the eyes, "I am Your Ozness to you Commander. And I understand that there were issues to be addressed, but knocking down my door was not the most polite way of asking me to come out of my room. Next time, knock," she retorted as sweetly as she could but with a bitter edge to her words.

A moment passed, and Lady Glinda put her hands on her hips, "Well what is the pressing matter that you needed to talk to me about?"

Cherrystone sighed, and looked directly at her.

"The ex-Press Secretary, Madame Morrible has…. escaped Your Ozness," he said looking down at his feet in shame as he finished talking.

"Escaped?" repeated Glinda in disbelief.

"Yes, Your Ozness. She has escaped from Southstairs. We have no idea where she has gone."

Glinda swallowed hard, and thought, "Well then. We must catch her before something terrible happens. Send out a search party at once, and inform every town, city, and village that she has escaped. Someone is bound to see her. With the clothes she wears it's not hard to miss her," muttered Glinda under her breath, "And I want a new door made for me by tonight. Do you all understand?"

The Gale Force nodded, and saluted her as they left the room.

Chuffrey came into her room after a moment of silence, and Glinda hastily had to hide the bottle and ring in her pillowcase to avoid him from finding it.

He put his arms around her, and she smiled up at him.

"Don't worry Glinda, she'll soon be back at Southstairs," he said kissing her cheek quickly.

Glinda nodded, but remained silent. She knew how dangerous Madame Morrible was, and was quite terrified to know that she was now not in Southstairs.

If only Elphie was here, thought Glinda glumly as she kissed Chuffrey back.

"Something wrong?" asked Chuffrey noticing that her face had paled quite a bit and she looked almost faint.

She blinked, and shook her head, "No, nothing's wrong. In fact, darling I couldn't be happier."

The sparkle came back into her eyes, and Chuffrey's worry ceased. He nodded, kissed her once again and left the room.

"Don't forget that you now have to make a speech that she has escaped now dearest!" he called out as he was leaving.

She thanked him, and sat down at her desk.

She twiddled with her tiara that was always placed in her curls, and straightened out her light green dress. She looked a fright, and after applying some makeup she looked like Glinda The Good.

Then she got word from her councilors that the speech was ready, and she went to go announce to the rest of Oz that Madame Morrible had escaped.

As she stepped out onto the balcony that overlooked the Emerald City, a dazzling smile replaced her earlier sobbing lips, and her eyes gleamed with a certain sparkle. She looked out into the crowd of Ozians, and she smiled lightly. Then she started her speech:

"Fellow Ozians, I have some terrifying news for you all. You all know that two years ago I arrested the ex Press Secretary Madame Morrible for her crimes and conspiracies that still remain under speculation. I have now gotten word from the guards at Southstairs that she has escaped. But not to worry, fellow Ozians. As long as you keep your eye out, and keep your family safe, the Gale Force will take care of the rest. But if you do have any information regarding her please let us know, and you will be rewarded. I do hope that no harm comes to our great Oz, and I hope that this criminal will be captured as quickly as we can. Dear Ozians, I pray for your safety as well as I hope you pray for mine. Thank you."

The Ozians all murmured thanks to Glinda, and she retreated back into the Palace. Her husband came over to her, and kissed her.

"That was just what needed to be said," he praised and she smiled at him in return.

With that, she walked away back into her room and Chuffrey was baffled that just a few hours ago Glinda was locked up in her room and would not speak to anyone, and now she had just given a speech with all smiles. But here she was now, smiling at everyone like nothing had happened.

Chuffrey knew that one thing was clear to him:

Women really did confuse him.


	2. The Note

Commander Cherrystone and his men were already off and looking for the criminal even before Glinda's speech. They were in the middle of the Vinkus, in the village of the Arjikis tribe where so many evil things had taken place. Cherrystone was not a simpleton, he knew that the Wicked Witch Of The West had once lived here and look what she brought to Oz. Cherrystone had a hunch that Morrible would hide out here.

He looked upwards at the old abandoned castle that was called Kiamo Ko and just looked at it. There was one light on in the highest tower that was visible from where he was standing.

He motioned for his men to go up there, and captured anything or anyone who was there, even the flying monkeys.

Cherrystone knew that if Lady Glinda was with him that she would deeply protest this action, but what Glinda did not see she did not have to know about.

He and his men made their way up the jagged rocks to the castle.

"Go on in, and take anyone and anything prisoner, is that understood?" demanded Cherrystone as he stood behind his men.

"Yes sir!" they yelled in unison and entered the castle.

The dark, and glooming grey walls of the castle were filled with cobwebs and spiders. Not a thing seemed touched or misplaced and no flying monkeys were in sight.

They made their way through several rooms that were empty until they came to the spiral staircase of cinder.

Cherrystone motioned for his men to go up, and they did taking each step with care. Finally the staircase led up to a hallway with several doors on each wall. Cherrystone noticed that the last door in the middle of the wall all the down the hallway had light illuminating from the cracks, and he pointed for his men to go in that direction.

They walked slowly and quietly to the room, and his men rammed the door down and proceeded to go inside.

Inside Cherrystone could hear his men shouting, and threatening to fire their guns. He wondered if they had finally caught Morrible. Intrigued, Cherrystone stepped over the broken door and went inside the room.

His eyes immediately went to the figure that was on the floor. It was a woman dressed in black velvet dress with a lime green trimming. Her white hair was wild, and quite bushy. Her eyes were fierce, and her bright red lips were pulled up into a cruel smile.

It was the one and only Madame Morrible. Cherrystone had only seen her from pictures but he knew enough about her that he could tell that this woman was she.

"Arrest her," he commanded, and his men tied her hands behind her back, and restrained her.

She smiled at him, her eyes gleaming.

"You know I had my doubts about her death," she said looking at him.

Cherrystone turned, and looked at her confused.

"Whose death?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "You young people have no idea of what has happened in Oz have you? Her! The Wicked Witch Of The West, or as I knew her for some time, Elphaba."

Cherrystone's eyes slanted, "Take her away, she's obviously deranged!"

She cackled, "Oh who told you that? Oh, no I know who it was. It was that little Miss Goody-Goody wasn't it? I taught her too, as well as Elphaba. I assigned them to be roommates. Look how that turned out, they're both famous. Well, Commander I can tell you one thing I've learned from being here. She's not dead."

At those words, Cherrystone ran over to her and held her shoulders back looking hard into her eyes.

"What do you mean, The Wicked Witch has been dead for two years?"

Morrible shook her head, "I thought so too dearie. I thought so too. Until one day that little blonde princess imprisoned that Tin Man for reasons unknown, and he told me that the Scarecrow stayed behind here after the melting occurred. But he could have sworn that he saw two people leaving this castle instead of one." She leaned in close to his ear, and whispered, "And he remembers one of them being green…"

"That's impossible," stuttered Cherrystone.

Madame Morrible gave him a small smile, "Don't believe me? Read that note that's been on the floor. Yes that one, the one that's covered in dirt. I read it, and it explains so much."

Cherrystone warily looked down at the floor, and sure enough a dirt-covered note was on the floor. He picked it up gently, and wiped the dirt off of it. The slanted cursive was quite faded now, but he could still make out what it said:

Dearest Elphaba,

Miraculously I've managed to escape, thanks to the spell you've cast on me. I've still had to pay a great price but my love is still strong for you. I only hope that you will still want me when we next meet.

Tell No One I Still Am ALIVE!

My only hope- our only Hope is for all of Oz to think that I'm dead

Fiyero

"This doesn't prove anything," spat out Cherrystone, but even still he shoved the note into his pocket for further exploration.

"Does it?" asked Morrible with a laugh, "Ah yes, you don't know who Fiyero is. Oh well, I guess I'll just go back to Southstairs again and wait until I'm right."

"Lady Glinda would know if she were alive, and she would tell us!" shot back one man who held back Morrible.

"Lady Glinda? Oh yes, Lady Glinda or commonly known as Your Ozness… that pretty little princess wouldn't give you the time of day if you asked. She doesn't care; she only likes the publicity. I bet she's in on this little scandal too. Just ask her, her face will turn pale and she'll start shaking. I wouldn't even doubt that she was here that night," sneered Morrible.

Cherrystone put his hand up; he had had enough of this.

"Take her away, I said!"

And with that he and his men chained Morrible up, put her in a carriage and sent her on her way to Southstairs.

Right before she left Morrible called out to Cherrystone, "Next time you come, you should question the flying monkeys! They knew more than anyone does!"

Cherrystone didn't know whether to believe the crazy Morrible or not, but one thing was for sure. This note was quite suspicious.

Lady Glinda was at a meeting when the Gale Force came back to the Palace with the news that Morrible had been re-captured and successfully put back into Southstairs. Glinda's maid, a young girl named Faye came into the meeting, and bowed before Glinda.

"The Gale Force would like me to inform you, Your Ozness, that Madame Morrible has been captured and sent back to Southstairs, ma'am," she said looking down at her shoes.

Glinda looked at the girl, her brown hair framing her pretty face and brown eyes, and she was reminded of Elphaba.

Glinda cleared her throat, "Very well then. Thank you Faye, you may go now sweet," said Glinda dismissively.

Faye looked up, and gave Glinda a wide smile and a curtsey, "Thank you, Ma'am- I mean Glinda, I mean Your Ozness," she said rushed as she fled from the room.

Glinda smiled as she watched her leave, and then turned her gaze to the table full of men before her.

"Well, where were we?" she said impatient.

One of them, an old man named Gregory with balding hair and warm eyes piped up.

"Your Ozness, we were talking about the matter of the Animals. Should they or should they not be considered and treated as humans?"

Lady Glinda tilted her head to the side considerably, "They should. They speak, they think, and they have opinions, why shouldn't we treat them as such?"

Another one of her councilors spoke up, "But Lady Glinda, we've never done that. How will the public react? How is this good for our Oz?"

Glinda bit her lip, "Well, the public will just have to get used to it, and what is not good about change? Change is something that it to be enjoyed not feared gentlemen. Now I want you to send that law in right away as approved, do you understand?"

They all murmured yes', and Glinda got up satisfied.

"Now if you will excuse me, I have a prisoner to deal with," she said leaving them to talk about her behind her back while she tended to Morrible.

She walked passed the guards at the door who saluted her, and she nodded her head to the, and then she saw Cherrystone down the marble hallway and she made her way over to him. The dress she was wearing limited her movements, as it was quite large and puffy with its teal fabric and many sequins.

"Commander," she greeted him finally getting close to him, "Well done with the capture of Morrible. I thank you very much for your heroic work."

Cherrystone blushed, took her hand in his, and kissed it, "It was my pleasure, Your Ozness."

Glinda smiled at him, but pulled her hand back as soon as his lips left it.

"Where was she?" asked Glinda looking out of the stain-glassed window and into rarely visible scenery.

"At Kiamo Ko, in the Vinkus," he said warily wondering what her reaction would be.

He watched her waiting for tears, or something to happen. But she merely took a deep breath, and placed both hands on her hips all the while looking at the ground.

"Yes, I am aware of it. It was where the … Wicked Witch Of The West lived, was it not?" her tone was sharp but underneath it was a tremor of shakes.

"So I have been told. I was not under the Palace guards at the time. I was in training in Quadling Country and missed the whole thing. What about you, where you there?"

She took another breath, still looking at the ground, "I was at the Palace when I heard, enjoying a lovely bubble bath with my husband in the next room. I came to announce that she was dead a few hours afterwards, and then the Wizard left, and I arrested Madame Morrible under some very dangerous crimes."

She looked at him, with those blue eyes, "Why do you ask Commander?"

Cherrystone shook his head, and tried to get Morrible's words out of his head.

"No reason, Your Ozness. It's just that Madame Morrible said some things that I think I need to bring to your attention."

Glinda's pleasant smile faltered, and her face turned serious.

"What did she say?"

Cherrystone opened his mouth, and then closed it, and then opened it again.

"She said that the Wicked Witch Of The West is still alive due to accounts of the Tin Man, and of this note that she found at the castle in the room where the Witch was melted."

He pulled the note out of his pocket and held it out for Glinda to take.

Her fingers reached out, trembling as they did so, and she grasped the note and looked at it franticly. Her lips were held in a firm position and did not quiver the slightest. But Cherrystone watched her eyes. Those sea blue eyes quivered and grew wider as Glinda read the note.

"It's quite unnerving to think that she could still be alive, but who knows maybe Morrible planted this there herself. And it doesn't even say that the Witch was alive after the melting, it just says that this Fiyero person was. What do you think, Your Ozness?"

He looked at Glinda who had gone deathly pale, and had started to shake uncontrollably. She held the note in her trembling hands, and read it over and over.

"Your Ozness, are you all right?" asked Cherrystone worried.

Glinda's eyes snapped up from the note, and she looked out in front of her. The guards at the door were coming close to help her, and Cherrystone had his arms out in case she fainted.

She took two shaking breaths, and clasped the note behind her back.

"I must speak with Morrible right away. Now!" she commanded, her voice filled with sharpness and authority.


	3. Southstairs

"I must speak with Morrible right away. Now!" said Glinda looking at Cherrystone, her composure and color back.

He stuttered for a moment, and then regained his focus.

"Um- yes, yes Your Ozness. Right away, if you would follow me out to a carriage," said Cherrystone walking out of the Palace and to the carriage house with Lady Glinda in tow. She followed him at a steady pace, whatever had happened in her mind in the Palace long forgotten or replaced. She walked out as Glinda, the ruler of Oz, not that shaking woman that he had seen reading the note. Cherrystone wondered what that had been about but obviously the whole Wicked Witch situation was very vexing on Glinda, and it must bring terrifying memories to her mind.

He hailed a carriage and opened the door for Glinda. She thanked him, and got inside, and he then preceded to get inside as well when Glinda stopped him.

"I will go alone, thank you Commander," she said icily.

"But Your Ozness, go alone to Southstairs? There are many dangerous criminals there and your husband will not like if you-"

"My husband does not know how dangerous Morrible is! And I will be going alone, now make yourself useful Cherrystone and leave! I don't need protection from her," she snapped at him.

And with that Glinda slammed the door, and the carriage pulled away leaving Cherrystone stunned at Glinda's behavior.

He watched as the carriage left the Palace on its way to Southstairs when he called to his men.

"Let the Ozness' husband know that she has gone to Southstairs alone to visit Morrible, and see if he wants to be with her," he said looking at two soldiers. They saluted him, and nodded, "Right away Commander!"

They left, and Cherrystone was left to wonder what was so pressing, disturbing or important that Glinda had to go alone to talk to Morrible.

Inside the carriage, Glinda reread the note with an ache forming in her heart.

Fiyero, Elphaba….

Just their names brought pain to Glinda's mind. It had only been two years since their deaths, but it was just enough that they were still in Glinda's mind.

The words of the letter were already sealed in her mind; she didn't even have to look at it anymore to read what it said.

Dearest Elphaba….

Miraculously I've managed to escape, thanks to the spell you've cast on me. I've still had to pay a great price but my love is still strong for you. I only hope that you will still want me when we next meet.

Tell No One That I Still Am ALIVE.

My only hope- our only hope is for all of Oz to think I'm dead.

Fiyero

Glinda sat back in the carriage, her head hurting and thought about the note. Glinda could have sworn that Fiyero had died. The Gale Force had come and put him up on that pole, and left him to die that day when Nessa had died.

But in the letter it said something about a spell. What spell?

Tell No One That I Still Am Alive…. Is that why Elphaba said, "We've seen his face for the last time."

Glinda shook that thought out of her head. It was impossible; they were both dead. Morrible must have planted this note to drive Glinda insane, and she had succeeded. But now Glinda was going to confront her, and make her tell the truth so that the guilt would subside and she could sleep at night.

But something about all of this kept nagging Glinda. How in Oz would Morrible think of something like this while she was in Southstairs? She was deranged, and there was no way that she logically thought this all out.

As the carriage halted, Glinda dismissed the thought knowing that she would soon know the truth, and she stepped out of the carriage and looked at the building that was Southstairs.

Glinda had never been in Southstairs, and personally she never wanted to be. With it's high cylinder towers on each of the four main points of the grey building, and the gates from one tower to the next rising high above the sky, and its small, limited window space, Southstairs was a scary place where no one ever came out alright.

They came out in pine coffins.

The guards outside of the entrance saluted her, "Lady Glinda," they murmured as she walked by.

"It's Your Ozness to you gentlemen," she remarked sharply glaring at them, but then she moved on inside.

The cold, damp insides of Southstairs were daunting. Candles illuminated some of the places, but mostly it lay in darkness. On every wall were multiples cells with high bars made of the toughest steel in Oz, and two or three inmates in each cell.

"Your Ozness, what do you need?" asked a guard who appeared next to her.

"I need to see Madame Morrible right away, thank you."

The guard nodded, and motioned for her to follow him, "This way if you please Your Ozness. Is it just yourself?"

"Yes, it is," answered Glinda with an even look.

The Guard nodded, all suspicions gone, and led her down a long hallway that reminded Glinda of a tunnel, to a small cell in a corner. This cell was the only one in the wall, and it was away from the other prisoners. It also had five guards surrounding it.

"Here you are, Your Ozness, Madame Morrible," announced the guard who had taken her down there.

"Thank you… sir-"

"General Teaville, Your Ozness," he cut in giving her his full rank and name.

"Thank you General Teaville," replied Glinda with a smile, "I would like to be alone with her for a bit if you don't mind."

"But Your Ozness," protested General Teaville, "She is a very dangerous witch and we really don't trust her-"

"Must I remind you that I am a witch also? She taught me everything I know. I think I can handle her, General," said Glinda calmly, glaring at him with her eyes.

General Teaville bowed his head in shame, "Yes your Ozness, I meant no disrespectation, I was only looking out for your safety. But if you wish…"

He dismissed the guards at her request, and looked at her before he left.

"We will be right over there if you need us, Your Ozness," he said pointing to the other corridor on her left.

Glinda nodded, and thanked him. Then he left, and Glinda turned and faced the dark cell.

The cell was completely dark, but even with that Glinda could still make out the outline of Madame Morrible in the shadows.

"So," purred a voice from inside the cell, "You wanted to speak with me alone, is that right dearie?"

Glinda squinted and got closer to the cell, her fingers wrapping around the bars, and her face pressed against them.

"Yes, Morrible," she replied.

Suddenly the dark figure in the shadows leapt up, and came up to the bars, scaring Glinda causing her to jump back in fright.

It was Madame Morrible all right. She had the crazy wild white hair, bright lipstick, and outrageous clothes on.

She was now grasping the bars from inside the cell, and staring at Glinda.

"Did I scare you dearie? You jumped back like a cat would do from water," remarked Morrible with a little laugh.

Glinda swallowed whatever fear she had growing in her throat, and composed herself, and strode up to Morrible, and came straight into her face.

"Did you write that note at Kiamo Ko? Did you do that to mess with me? To cause all of the guilt and everything else to drive me mad?" asked Glinda with a harshness to her voice.

Morrible laughed at her, "That old thing? So the Commander decided to show you that. Well dearie, I did not write it. Fiyero did. You can check because that's not my handwriting. I do not have that nice cursive, but then again who knew Fiyero did?"

"No you wrote this note. It has to be you. Elphaba told me that Fiyero was dead! She got a note saying that he was dead that night!" exclaimed Glinda, trying to figure out why Morrible was lying and accidentally letting the truth slip out.

"She told you that on that night? But you told everyone that you were taking a bubble bath with your newly found boyfriend. Ah, and the little princess's lies come undone!" squealed Morrible with glee as shame crossed Glinda's face.

"Alright fine I was there. I saw all of it. The melting, the screaming, everything. But you already knew that didn't you Morrible? That's why you planted that note and gave it to Cherrystone so that I would go crazy with grief, admit it!" snapped Glinda, her eyes fierce, straightening her posture so that she was as tall as Madame Morrible.

"I already told you that it wasn't me dear. Maybe that was the note Elphaba read that night. I don't know. Maybe the flying monkeys know something…." She said as a twisted smile came across her face.

"Flying monkeys? You mean Chistery and the others? I didn't realize that they were still there?" said Glinda surprised.

"Oh yes, they fled like a flock of birds though when I arrived to someplace. But they are still there," said Morrible.

She paused, "So what else did that Commander tell you that I said? I bet he left some of it out…"

Glinda swallowed and tried to remember everything that Cherrystone had told her.

"He said that you thought that she was alive due to rumors from eye-witnesses and the note. And I must ask you, Morrible, who eye-witnessed her return if there even was one?"

"I did," croaked out a weak voice to Glinda's left. The voice had come from the first cell on that corridor.

Glinda turned around surprised, and called out, "Who said that?"

The voice scoffed, "Oh right. You never could remember my name. Over here Your Ozness!" the voice called out again.

This time Glinda went over to the cell, leaving Morrible.

The figure in the cell was oddly shaped, almost built like a robot or tic-tock creature, and something gleamed whenever light hit inside of that cell.

"You must come closer so I can see you. My eyes are growing weak. And who, may I ask are you, and explain to me how you saw the Wicked Witch after she was melted?" demanded Glinda with her hands on her hips, looking very regal.

Her blonde hair was in a bun, and even as she leaned near the cell to look, pieces of her hair blocked her view.

Finally the person came closer, more like creaked to Glinda than walked, and she gasped as she saw who it was.

"Tin Man!" she gasped, "It is you. I didn't realize that you were still here. I told them to release you the day after your imprisonment because I found the culprit who had stolen that vase. I will gladly get you out now on account of your-"

"No need, Galinda. I like it here. I'll just rust away till I am nothing," replied the Tin Man shrugging at her, his body covered with dirt and rust.

Glinda shook her head in disbelief, "But I can have you released. Don't you want that? After all you've done with the Matter Of Dorothy and everything it is the only thing I- wait, you called me Galinda?" her tone was shocked.

The Tin Man put on a wry smile, "You really don't know who I am. Figures," he muttered under his breath, "Well anyways, I don't want to be released, and I will gladly tell you what happened that night either way."

Glinda could only stare with her mouth open.

"I was there, when Dorothy supposedly 'melted' Elph- I mean the Witch, and afterwards the Scarecrow said that he was going to go help clean up the mess. So the Lion, Dorothy, and Toto and I all started to leave when something caught my eye. I told the Lion, and Dorothy to start heading down the cliff with Toto, and they did. Then I saw the Scarecrow leaving through the back entrance with someone else. Someone who had green skin and a black dress on. I asked him about it later on while we were traveling back to the Emerald City and he never gave me a straight answer. He avoided the question, saying that I must have been too traumatized and made it all up. But I know what I saw," argued the Tin Man heatedly.

"So you saw the Scarecrow helping someone out of the castle who had green skin?" whispered Glinda, not believing her ears.

"Yes, he thought that he was alone, but I was hiding in the shadows. It was a while afterward the melting, say six or seven hours afterwards."

Glinda tried to remember when she had left Kiamo Ko that night. She had left about an hour after the melting, after being summoned to the Emerald City, where she was supposed to be, to tell the Ozians the news. So in short, she had missed the Scarecrow leaving with this supposed "Elphaba."

"And then?" prompted Glinda wanting to know what happened next.

But just then the Gale Force and Chuffrey coming to Glinda's aide interrupted them.

"Chuffrey?" exclaimed Glinda confused and frustrated that she was so close to knowing the truth when he had burst in, "What are you doing here?"

Chuffrey stroked his beard, a habit that he always had, and grabbed her wrist, "That's not relevant right now. The point is, why are you here all alone without any guards around you? You do know that she could kill you!" he scolded, not letting go of her wrist, and bringing her close to him.

"Chuffrey let go! I was never in any danger. You're being paranoid. Now let go, I'm not finished yet," she said trying to free herself from his grasp. But Chuffrey grabbed her shoulders, and made her stand still.

"No, Glinda. You're tired, and scared. You need to go home. You've been through a lot right now, and you need rest. I'm going to have the Gale Force take you home, and I will be there shortly. I just need to deal with these prisoners first," he said glaring at Morrible.

"What?" cried out Glinda as the Gale Force took her by the arms and dragged her away.

"Goodbye Miss Galinda, I do hope you enjoy ruling Oz. You seem to pay better attention to the Ozians than you ever did to me," remarked the Tin Man as she stopped the guards for a moment by digging her heels into the ground.

She looked up at him, her enraged face ever more prettier when it was flushed.

"Miss Galinda? No one has called me that since Shiz! Who are-," she started to say when realization finally kicked in.

"Oh, is that you, Boq?" her voice was choked up.

He nodded, and her eyes filled with tears. She tried to move forward to say something to him when the guards grabbed her once again. But this time she smacked them, and got free. She walked up to Boq's cell, and wrapped one hand's fingers around the bars lightly.

"What ever happened to you to get you like… well this?" she asked, ignoring Chuffrey's protests to step away from the cell.

"It was all Elphaba's fault, she came to Nessa and said that she needed her help. And then she ended up casting a spell that made her stand up on her own two feet. But that made Nessa want to run away with me, and I wouldn't have it. They both were such liars! And then I told Nessa that I was still in love with you, and she got angry, and I think Elphaba used her spell book to shrink my heart and turn me into this. It was all her fault. She wasn't the person that you knew. She was evil and she deserved to be dead; I'm glad that I was there when she died. She deserved it," hissed Boq.

Something inside Glinda snapped, and she lunged for Boq, nearly clawing at him.

"She did NOT deserve to die, and you know it, Boq! You're the one who deserves to be dead! You're so heartless that you can't even realize that she was trying to help you! How could you even SAY that about her! Chuffrey, PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" she screeched, as Chuffrey picked up the tiny, infuriated blonde and pulled her away from Boq's cell.

"Glinda, calm down will you?" he shouted at her, restraining her with his arms from attacking Boq again.

She finally stopped trying to get free, and she collapsed against his chest, sobbing. She didn't even realize that they had already gotten out of Southstairs and into the carriage until she felt the lurch of it, and saw the scenery fly by her eyes.

Chuffrey held her close, and stroked her hair, "Once we get back, I'm having the Emerald City Palace doctor look at you," he said firmly.

Glinda, who was still sobbing against his chest, didn't even protest the matter though if she was not crying she would have. There was no excuse for how she had acted, but for reasons unknown she could not explain what had made her act like that.

Unless she wanted to tell the truth about Shiz, Elphaba, Fiyero, and everything else, she could never tell anyone why she had acted like that.


	4. Fever

Glinda stayed close to Chuffrey as they arrived back at the Palace, and everyone (servants, guards, councilors) looked at Glinda with the fear that she had finally lost it. No one said anything to her, but they just looked on as she leaned on her husband and disappeared into her room.

Once inside with the door firmly locked Chuffrey peeled Glinda off of him and forced her to sit down on the bed.

Then he started to pace back and forth, stroking his beard and talking to himself.

"What has gotten into you my dear?" he finally asked her, trying to get her to look into his eyes.

Glinda blinked, and continued to stare at the door wishing that she could just curl up and die. She barely even heard Chuffrey's question. She jumped when he tried to grab her shoulders, and she shrieked.

Chuffrey put his hand on her forehead in case that she was delirious or something like that. She was burning up, and he suspected a very bad fever.

The door to Glinda's room opened up and Faye poked her head in quietly and asked, "Is there anything I can get Your Ozness and Lord Chuffrey?"

Lord Chuffrey looked at her with worried eyes, "Yes," he said strained, "You can get the doctor right away Faye."

Faye's face turned worried, and she nodded quickly shutting the door behind her.

Chuffrey turned his attention back to Glinda who had started shaking now. He grabbed her face with his hands and looked at her.

"Glinda dear, can you hear me? Do you feel sick? Faint? What is it darling?" he asked.

Glinda stopped shaking and looked at him. She was tired, overheated, drained, and last but not least she felt as if she was going to break into a million pieces.

"I think… I think I just need to sleep," she whispered at him, suddenly getting very chilled.

Chuffrey nodded, and even picked her up, pulled back the covers, and set her back down on the bed again, putting the blankets around her.

"How does that feel, Glin?" he asked stroking her forehead.

"Fine," Glinda mumbled as she felt her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep.

Chuffrey stayed by her side until the door opened and in came the doctor, a man named Vance Leople.

He came and shook hands with Chuffrey and looked down at Glinda who lay on the bed, already fast asleep.

"Do you mind telling me what happened?" asked Vance.

Chuffrey nodded and launched into what had happened at Southstairs, and how Glinda had acted. Vance nodded and felt Glinda's forehead, which was even hotter than when Chuffrey had felt it.

He took her temperature, and found it to be 103 degrees.

"What is she sick with?" asked Chuffrey after seeing the thermometer.

"I don't see any signs of any viruses or flues or even any serious illnesses. I think this might just have been brought on by all of the stress she's been dealing with. Anyways that does not discount the fact that she should stay low for a while. Not deal with any big issues, or even make any laws. So, just keep her out of things until you notice a change. The fever will go away once she calms down, and she will be back to normal in no time. If anything changes or she gets worse, I suggest having her talk about her problems to someone, or you can call me back."

Chuffrey felt relieved and he thanked the doctor and saw him out. Outside of Glinda's room, her councilors, advisors, and servants all waited for the news.

"She is just sick from all of the stress so the doctor suggested leaving her alone for a while, and just letting her rest. So I will take charge of Oz until she is better," announced Chuffrey because he knew that that's what they all were waiting to hear.

They all murmured that they hoped that she would feel better, and all went back to work. Chuffrey caught Faye's arm as she turned to leave though.

"Could you stay with her in her room, just to make sure that she is alright? Please, Faye?" begged Chuffrey revealing a tender side to him that Faye had not seen.

Faye nodded, and Chuffrey let her into the room, shutting the door behind her. Faye was only sixteen, and she had only been working at the Palace since the Wizard's departure and Glinda's installment, but she had liked it here. Lady Glinda was always pleasant and nice to her, and she enjoyed doing her hair in the morning or helping her pick out which dress to wear each day.

Faye looked at Lady Glinda, who was curled up fast asleep underneath the pillows, and Faye was reminded of her own mother, who had died from a fever when she was 12. She walked over to Lady Glinda, felt her forehead, and got a washcloth and soaked it in cold water. Then she expertly pressed it to Glinda's forehead repeatedly. Faye really did hope that Glinda would get better. Her successors were all men and were not as nice or sweet as she was.

In her sleep, Glinda stirred and opened her eyes to find Faye pressing a cold cloth to her forehead. She smiled sleepily, and in the haze of the fever thought that Faye was Elphaba, her old friend.

"Thank you, Elphie," she mumbled as she closed her eyes again and dreamt that Elphaba and Fiyero had been saved and all of her guilt went away.

But even in the fever, Glinda knew that was not true.

Faye shrugged as the feverish woman called her Elphie, and kept pressing the cold cloth to her head.

Faye knew from experience that some people got better if you talked to them, so Faye started talking about random things while Glinda slept to keep herself occupied.

"My mother died when I was twelve. She died of a fever. You remind me of her, Lady Glinda. She was pretty too and strong. I miss her sometimes, but I actually think of you now as my motherly figure. I hope that that's all right with you. I look up to you, and that's why I hope that you will snap out of this fever real quick and get better. But I know you will. My mother used to tell me stories of her days at Shiz. She actually went to school with you, and Elphaba, and Fiyero too. And then she ended up marrying a man named Avaric who was so sweet and kind. But then he died, and it was just Mother and I. Then Mother died, and I left to work at the Palace like all other orphaned girls do. I think it's wonderful that you do that, Lady Glinda. Mother always said that you had a secret love for charity and helping people."

Faye sighed she was running out of things to talk about. Her life was not very exciting. She would rather hear about Glinda's life than talk about her own.

Faye spied some books on the shelves of Glinda's bookshelves and Faye selected one with a big spine and a dark brown leather cover.

On the cover it said in gold letters, The Grimmerie.

"What a funny title for a book," mused Faye as she looked at it. Faye unlike most servant girls had learned how to read and write, her mother had taught her. But as Faye flipped through the book, she discovered that she could not read any of the words on the pages.

Disappointed, she put the book back on the shelves.

Just then Glinda woke up again, and looked at Faye with a delirious look in her eyes.

"Where is she?" asked Glinda sitting up, "Where is she? She promised me that she wouldn't die. She promised me, and so did Fiyero. But then they did die. And it's all my fault," Glinda started to cry, and shake as Faye came over to her and mumbled words of comfort to her.

"Who promised Lady Glinda?" Faye asked, getting up on the bed and wrapping her arms around the tiny blonde, a move that would be considered forbidden for any servant to do without these circumstances.

"Elphaba, and Fiyero! Who else?" wailed Glinda as she cried into Faye's shoulder.

"I don't know who they are, but I'm sure that they're fine," lied Faye knowing fully well that Elphaba was the Wicked Witch Of The West, and that Fiyero was Glinda's ex fiance who had died under torture from his own troop of Gale Force guards for being involved with Elphaba. But no one was supposed to know that. Faye only knew that because her Mother had told her about it.

"I miss them so much," sobbed Glinda as her fever started to slowly decrease.

Faye felt Glinda's forehead, it was much cooler.

"You should lie back down again, Your Ozness, go back to sleep," encouraged Faye as she helped Glinda lie back down.

"Thank you Faye, I feel much better now. But you mustn't tell anyone what I told you, is that understood?" muttered Glinda looking quite serious now that she was not so delirious.

Faye nodded, "Yes, Ma'am."

Glinda nodded, and soon fell back asleep again dreaming that both Elphaba and Fiyero forgave her for sending them both to their deaths.

Just then, in the other room Cherrystone was sitting at Glinda's banquet table with one leg on the table.

One of his most trusted guards came into the room, Lieutenant Marsh and bowed to him.

"Sir, I have important news regarding … the …erm- matter we discussed earlier after Glinda's decision to go Southstairs alone. We have found all of the flying monkeys and have put them in Southstairs."

Cherrystone looked up at him, "Excellent then. Well done."

Marsh hesitated to say what else happened. But Cherrystone caught on, "Is there anything else, Marsh?" he pressed.

"Yes," whispered Marsh.

"Well what is it?" asked Cherrystone agitated.

"We um, also found The Scarecrow that was traveling with Dorothy years earlier, and he was… with someone. But they both disappeared the instant we tried to attack them."

"He was with someone else? Who? What did they look like?" asked Cherrystone standing up and coming closer to Marsh.

"He was with a woman, and she…. She had green skin sir," admitted Marsh.

Cherrystone's mouth slacked, and he grew still.

"Find them both and capture them," were his only directions.


	5. Remember

"Are you sure that they saw me, Yero?" asked Elphaba swirling around at him in her faded black dress, "They saw me!"

Fiyero detected a bit of fear in her voice, the tremble in her throat.

"I swear they saw you. But it's not my fault. How could I have known that the Gale Force was right in the middle of the Forbidden Forest tracking down Chistery and every other monkey of yours?" he snapped back her.

Elphaba cursed, her features angry.

"Do you understand how bad that is, Fiyero? Now they'll be on the lookout for us, and we've only just came back from the Other World two days ago. We could go back to the Sour Sands that lead to the Other World? What do you think?"

Fiyero put his face in his hands, his burlap face and gloves dirty, and he moaned.

"I don't know, Fae. I didn't think that Glinda would have guards, she not the type that needs to be protected."

"Unless they've revolted against her. Maybe she's in trouble! Maybe she needs our help," but then Elphaba sighed, "Wait, that was stupid of me. Even if she was in trouble, we still couldn't help her. She thinks we're dead."

Fiyero looked up at Elphaba, and saw how sad she looked. She tried to hide it, of course, she always did that, but Fiyero could see right through her. He always had.

"Fae," he said softly wrapping his arms around her waist, "It's alright. Glinda is fine. But you're right. We do need to disappear. And not just that puff stuff and we traveled from one place to the other. We need a real cover up spell. Do you remember any from the Grimmerie?"

Elphaba sighed, and her shoulders relaxed. She turned to Fiyero, and looked deeply into his eyes.

"There is this one, but…" She turned away from him, and looked down at the ground.

"But nothing. Right now we need to hide, and fast. Cast the spell," said Fiyero gently.

Elphaba sighed again, closed her eyes remembering the spell from the pages, and chanted it.

In a second, they both were invisible….

Back at the Emerald City Palace, Lady Glinda awoke to bright sunlight in her eyes, and she rolled over to avoid the glare.

She blinked, and saw that Chuffrey was standing at the door, his eyes on her.

"You're awake?" his tone a bit surprised, "You only slept half the day away, darling. Don't worry."

At that, Glinda jumped up from the bed, as she couldn't believe that she had slept through half the day.

Chuffrey held out his hands for her to stop moving and walked over to her, setting his hands on her shoulders.

"Relax. Nothing important happened. Everyone wished that you felt better soon, and they were all fine that I took over for you for just today. How are you feeling, love?"

Glinda looked up at him, and thought about his question. She barely remembered yesterday, and it was mostly a blur.

"I'm fine. I think. I don't really remember what happened yesterday though. Could you tell me what happened?" she asked, her brow creasing.

Chuffrey bit his lip, and knew that lying was very bad to do, but under the circumstances he knew it was for the best. He could not have Glinda going back to Southstairs ever again. Not while Madame Morrible was still alive anyways.

"Nothing, dear. You woke up sick, and you slept the whole day away. You had a very high fever, and you were quite delusional. But you seem so much better now, and I am so glad."

Glinda nodded, and her lips parted to speak, "So, what happens next?"

Chuffrey seemed puzzled at her question, "What do you mean?"

"With Madame Morrible? Isn't she still on the loose? We need to find her immediately and get her back in Southstairs," said Glinda franticly.

He stared at her, wondering if she was serious or if she really wasn't well yet.

"Don't you remember darling, we told you yesterday that she had been captured and is now at Southstairs again. Do you really not remember yesterday?" he asked, floored that she could not remember.

She shook her head, her curls swaying from side to side.

"No. I don't. I'm sorry."

Chuffrey nodded, and he called in the doctor saying to Glinda that he just wanted to make sure that she was fully all right.

Doctor Vance Leople came in, and he bowed to Glinda.

"Your Ozness, I see that you are looking well today. I am very glad to hear that," he greeted.

Glinda gave him a weak smile, and a head tilt, "Why thank you, Doctor. I'm feeling better, but… you see I don't remember anything from yesterday at all."

"Nothing?" asked Vance, his eyes narrowing.

Glinda shook her head, "Nothing."

Vance nodded, "Very common with high fevers. Don't worry, Your Ozness it will soon come back to you, some time or another. Besides that is there anything else that is bothering you?"

"No, nothing else," answered Glinda.

"Good," said Vance quipped, "Well, then I must be off, Your Ozness. Ozspeed to both of you!"

He bowed again, and then he left the room.

Chuffrey turned to Glinda; "I'll leave you to yourself. You are welcome to stay in your room, or wander. I don't care. As long as you can handle it my dear. I have some business to attend to in Munchkinland tomorrow, and I am leaving tonight. Will you be alright without me, or should I stay here?"

Glinda stood up from the bed, and strode over to Chuffrey in the most regal way anyone ever did see, "You are too kind to me Chuffers. I don't deserve you. No, I do not need you. Go ahead to Munchkinland," and with that she kissed him on the cheek and called for her maids to help her dress.

Faye and the other maids that assisted Lady Glinda were called into her room at noon, and they found that the ruler of Oz was quite fine and energetic, unlike her usual conservative self.

She smiled at everyone, and giggled like a little schoolgirl. No one could quite figure out if she was just too happy, or if she was still under the fever. Faye finally put all their questions to rest when she felt the woman's forehead; which was a perfectly normal temperature.

"Maybe," whispered one maid to another who was curling Glinda's hair, "She's finally lost it. Taken some pills, and gone loopy."

"I can hear you, Priscilla!" snapped Glinda turning around sharply, almost yanking her hair out of Ella's hands, "And I would suggest that you not talk about me like that. I am perfectly fine and unless you want to keep your job here, you will remain silent!"

Priscilla bit her lip, and nodded looking down at the floor, while Ella remained quiet and continued to curl her hair.

Faye was getting the creases out of the pretty pale blue, sequined dress that Glinda had laid out on the bed to get into after her hair.

Finally Ella was finished, and Glinda rose and got into the dress; which puffed out a lot. She put on her high heels, and stood in front of her cherry wood mirror, and looked.

Faye could not contain her amazement that Glinda looked stunning. Her hair was perfect, her dress glimmered and shone, and her face was radiant.

"You look stunning, Your Ozness," said Faye speaking out of term.

Glinda spun around, that gown spinning slowly, and she looked at Faye.

"Thank you, Faye. You girls are dismissed," she said with a wave of her hand.

They left, and Glinda was left alone.

She knew that she had been acting differently ever since the fever but there was one thing that had her smiling. Last night, if she remembered correctly and she hoped that she did not dream this, but she saw Elphaba and Fiyero in the woods, alive.

If only it were true….

Cherrystone had been alerted that Glinda was finally out of her fever, saying that it was one of those strong twenty-four hours fevers that drained everything out of you, and he knocked on her door around twelve thirty.

She opened the door, in a stunning gown of pale blue and sequins.

"Cherrystone, what a delight! How are you?" asked the ruler, smiling.

Cherrystone was a bit taken back, but he forced a polite smile, "Fine, Your Ozness. I came to inquire how you are? I heard that you were in quite a state last night."

Her smile faltered a bit, "Yes, well it seems everyone remembers that but me. I have no memory of yesterday at all, but the doctor said it would come back to me soon."

Cherrystone's face was surprised, and he did not try to hide it.

"Oh well, we all hope that it comes back soon, Your Ozness."

"Thank you, Commander," said Glinda, her eyes twinkling.

"Is there anything else?" she continued with.

Cherrystone thought about telling her about the Witch and Scarecrow, but then he decided that it was too early. It could wait until the time was right.

"Nothing, Your Ozness, nothing at all," he said with a fake smile.

She returned his smile, and then excused herself, claiming that she had a slight headache. She closed the door, and returned back onto her bed.

Her head hit the pillow, and she immediately knew something was wrong. She searched through the pillowcase, but nothing was there.

The ring and the green bottle were gone.


	6. Unexpected

Glinda slept in the next morning, and tried to rack her brains to remember if she had taken out the ring and bottle. She didn't recall doing so, but yet she still did not recall anything of the other day.

Glinda had already gone through every nick and cranny in her room, and could not find it. She guessed that someone had stolen it. She planned to have a meeting with everyone later today.

But the more she thought about it, the more dangerous that plan became. If someone did have it, did they know what they meant? Did they know that the bottle was Elphaba's, and the ring was given to Glinda from Fiyero?

Maybe this was the leverage the citizens of Oz wanted so that they could overthrow her. But Glinda highly doubted that the Ozians wanted to get rid of her, she had had no death threats, or plans of assassination, or ones that she had been informed about. Glinda had brought peace to Oz, and with that happiness to everyone else, except for her. Inside, she was still grieving the deaths of Elphaba and Fiyero. No one really knew that, but Glinda still hurt inside whenever someone said "The Wicked Witch Of The West." And no one even dared to mention the fact that Glinda's ex-fiance died at the hands of the Gale Force.

Combing her fingers through her hair, Glinda wondered if anyone on the Gale Force had done the torturing of him. Glinda thought she had fired them all, but some of them could have lied to her.

Her reflection stared back at her as she sat down at her bureau. She looked fine, but her eyes held her secrets deep inside of them. She put on a smile as if to convince even herself that she was fine.

She was the ruler of Oz, the highest-powered person in the land. This had been what she had wanted all along, wasn't it?

Madame Morrible's words during the rallying of the witch hunters rang in her head:

"Now, you listen to me, Missy, you may have fooled the rest of Oz with this "aren't I good" routine, but you know better. You've wanted this since the beginning... and now you're getting what you wanted. So just smile and wave and shut up!"

She shuddered as she thought of it, but this had been what she had wanted. She wanted this when she back at Shiz, a vain silly little blonde who thought that the world was going to crumble at her feet, and obey her.

Glinda reflected on that part of her life, she had been so… so stupid back then. She thought she owned the world because after all she was Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands.

Now she had gotten her wish, and it was so bittersweet. She was glad that she had such a high luxury life, but now that she had it she knew that it never had been worth it. Nothing could ever be worth, or make up the fact that she had lost Elphaba and Fiyero. Not being ruler of Oz, being married to Chuffrey, nothing would ever fill that void in her heart, and that was her burden to bear.

She straightened up in her chair, and applied some more cherry-red lipstick to her already bright lips.

Glinda knew that she hid her pain well, heck even Chuffrey didn't know when she was upset half the time unless she started to cry, but that still did not discount the fact that she was still hurting with no one to talk to about it.

The door to her room opened, and Glinda turned around to see who it was.

It was Cherrystone, and he knocked on the door after he shut it.

"I'm so sorry, Your Ozness. I forgot to knock. I do hope that you don't mind, it's just that we have obtain some very important information," explained Cherrystone walking over to her.

"Oh," said Glinda faintly, and she turned towards him in one of her favorite yellow dresses, and heels to match.

Cherrystone thought she looked like a bright lemon, or the sun.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well there are more rumors than anything else, so maybe I should wait to tell you this…" he trailed off, and bowed, and then started to leave when Glinda stopped him.

"No Cherrystone, tell me now," demanded Glinda, her stomach dropping.

He turned, and looked at her.

"There are some around… that believe that you were friends with the Wicked Witch of the West, and that you helped her escape. But not to worry, Your Ozness, they are just rumors are they not?"

Cherrystone waited for her to answer him.

Glinda swallowed, and nodded, "Yes they are just rumors, thank you Cherrystone."

He bowed to her, and left shutting the door behind him.

Just like that, all of Glinda's memories from the other day came back to her, and she knew what she had to do.

Glinda sneaked out of her room, and went out into the stables where the carriages were. Two guards stood outside of the building and stopped her.

"Lady Glinda, under orders from your husband you cannot leave the Palace," one of them said to her in a gruff voice.

"I'm not allowed to drive my own carriages around the Emerald City, to bring happiness and joy to my fellow Ozians. Please, stand aside gentlemen," she said as she walked right past them into the stables. Minutes later she drove her carriage out of the building, and sped off by the guards and out into the city. She knew that they would be after her soon; she wasn't usually reckless and rebellious but desperate times called for desperate measures.

She drove her carriage past the busy streets, and all of the Ozians she passed smiled and cheered at her. She gave them dazzling smiles, all while driving the carriage by herself, which she had to admit she was not very good at. She nearly knocked over this fruit stand, and drove into a group of traveling maunts.

Finally she made it to Southstairs, and she halted her horses and carriage and proceeded to go inside.

The guards stood at attention and General Teaville looked at her with surprise.

"Your Ozness, we here at Southstairs heard that you were not feeling well, I do hope that you are well now. Seeing as you are back here, I guess that you want to speak to Morrible again?"

"Yes, please, and I am quite fine now thank you. Oh, by the way, do not tell my husband that I was here. I'm going to tell him I was doing charity, which by the way General, is surprisingly just delightful!" said Glinda as she followed him back to Morrible's cell.

General Teaville just smiled at her, and he let her be with Morrible and Boq.

Boq was sitting in his cell, glaring at her.

"Do I get an apology for you nearly clawing my face off last time you were here?" he said stiffly.

Glinda looked at him, "Yes. I am truly sorry, Biq. I mean Boq. I wasn't thinking clearly. I'm sorry."

Boq still glared at her, and let it go.

Glinda then turned to Morrible, and she said, "Last time we talked you said something about the flying monkeys, what do they have to do with this?"

Morrible cleared her throat from inside the cell, and came forward to meet Glinda's eyes.

"They're always in the castle. They see things that we don't, and they were with Elphaba for the longest time. They know her secrets, so if you talked to them you could maybe find out if she's still alive."

"And what does it matter to you if she's still alive or not?" snapped Glinda getting closer to Morrible.

"I want to see how she did it. She was always talented, and I want to see if she was talented to cheat on death. If she is alive, I wouldn't be that surprised. But what about you, princess how would you feel if you found out that she's still alive?" asked Morrible with a toothy smile.  
Glinda paused and took a breath, "Less guilty," she muttered.

"You feel guilty about her death? Well darling that doesn't surprise me either. You never were strong enough to stand up to me or the Wizard, or even Elphaba and Fiyero for that matter. When you were up against those people you disappeared like a shadow and never remerged. It was comical really," remarked Morrible with a maniacal laugh.

Glinda frowned, but then she realized that Morrible's words were true. She had never been strong enough to stand up to them until after Elphaba's death. Something had hardened in her when she saw Elphaba die, and from that point on she had been stronger. She was stronger now, even she could tell. She knew Morrible was trying to break that right now.

"That was then," said Glinda defensively.

"Yes, but it's our past that shapes our future, dearie."

"I believe that to be true, " moaned Boq from his cell.

Glinda flinched as he moaned, and wished that he were not here. Just him being there reminded Glinda of why she had wanted to get rid of him back at Shiz.

"Boq, shut up!" commanded Glinda, a headache already starting in her temples.

Just then there was some clamoring and commotion in another wing of the jail, and Glinda looked down the cells to see guards jabbing their guns at whoever or whatever was in those cells, crying out, "General the monkeys are trying to escape, come quickly!"

Glinda's eyes narrowed, and she started to walk towards them when General Teaville ran in front of her and shot a bullet from his pistol into the air to stop the commotion. It worked, and the guards got back to their posts, and the inmates settled down.

"Stupid snow monkeys," Glinda heard one guard mumble as he passed her, and that's when Glinda ran over to those cells and peered inside.

As soon as she saw Chistery and the other snow monkeys inside of the cells, badly hurt and starving, Glinda whirled around to shout at General Teaville.

"General, what the hell are these flying monkeys doing here? They are supposed to be at Kiamo Ko, their home!" she shouted, her body shaking because she was so mad.

General Teaville looked displeased, "Your first Commander, Cherrystone ordered them to be rounded up and tortured until they told us where the Witch was. We had to obey him. Why are you so angry, he said that you were the one who proposed this idea?" said Teaville with disgust, "Frankly Your Ozness, I didn't think you had the sick mind to do this to them, but I was wrong."

"What? He did this? And no I would NEVER approve of this! He must have done this when I was deathly sick in my bed. No, General I never signed anything saying that you could do this to them. You must let them go immediately," she begged looking at Chistery.

Teaville looked apologetic, "I'm sorry Your Ozness, but we can't do that. Cherrystone is coming up this afternoon to question them personally, and he says we cannot let them go until he decided who gets to go free."

"Wait," Glinda thought of what Teaville had said when he told her what they were here for, "You said they had to tell you where the Witch went? It's been two years, and she's dead. Right? Why does he need them know? She's doesn't have any remains, she melted for Oz's sake."

Teaville's face looked shocked, "Your Ozness, you mean you don't know?"

Glinda's face turned stern, "No General, what don't I know about?"

Her voice was like steel, and her glare was one that could kill.

He sighed, "One troop of the Gale Force was in the middle of the Forbidden Forest in the Vinkus and all of a sudden these flying monkeys show up and the Scarecrow and a woman… who had green skin. But in a flash they were gone, and all that was left were the monkeys. Cherrystone was told of this, and he obviously sent for their immediate capture and arrest."

"Green skin?" repeated Glinda as her heart burned, and she felt sick.

"No, this can't be happening, she's dead. I saw her die she can't be alive. I was there when she melted and I saw her, I saw the puddle of green, and she was dead. She is not back! She told me that there was no spell if she did die to bring her back," said Glinda to herself as she paced around the floor, trying not to get hysterical.

"None of those things that happened to Nessarose, Boq, and the Lion were her fault," rambled on Glinda as she continued to walk, "They were all my fault. Everything that she was framed for was my fault."

"So, I will take that as your confession, Your Ozness. You've just proved to me that you were involved with the crimes due to the Wicked Witch Of The West, and you are now under arrest," said a voice from behind General Teaville.

Teaville turned around, and so did Glinda to see Commander Cherrystone, holding Glinda's green bottle and her old engagement ring.

"Arrest her."


	7. Plans and Rumors

Glinda stared with her mouth open at Cherrystone as she heard him repeat the words, "Arrest her!"

She was confused for a moment, who was her? But then, with a dropping sensation in her stomach, she realized that he was talking about her. The next thing she knew a pair of guards threw her into the cell with the flying monkeys. From behind the bars, she glared at Cherrystone.

"I don't seem to understand, Commander, why you are doing this to me? You have no proof of my actions, do you? And besides, doesn't the ruler of Oz get a trial? A fair hearing is all I ask," she said calmly.

Cherrystone held up the ring, and bottle as if that was all the proof he needed.

"Finding this in your room confirmed all the proof that I have. I have my evidence; I don't need to show you. I know that you were involved with the Wicked Witch Of The West. A number of witnesses have confirmed it, and some," he looked to Morrible who smiled wickedly, "have even given me files and class pictures. Also testimonies on what happened at Shiz, and the Emerald City. And lastly, some of the ex- Gale Force has some stories to tell about you and the Witch, and also Fiyero. And no, you do not get a trial, Your Ozness. Since when in Oz has there ever been a trial for anything. Even the Matter of Dorothy didn't have a trial!"

Glinda lowered her gaze for a moment, and then looked back up her eyes startlingly fierce.

"This cannot happen! My own Commander, and guards cannot imprison me. You still have not given me any concrete evidence of why I should be in here, Cherrystone," she reminded, her eyes narrowed.

He just smiled at her, with his brown eyes and hair, "No, Your Ozness I haven't. But that's because when I interrogate you, you will give me the evidence I need. Good-day Your Ozness!"

Glinda watched him as he left, slightly trembling at the thought of being in prison. She was a social butterfly and she thrived on social interaction and parties, but she needed to remain strong. For Chuffrey, for her fellow Ozians, herself, and maybe even Elphaba…

After being in the cell with the flying monkeys for six hours, Glinda found herself in her now dirty yellow dress curled up against the wall, still managing to be as radiant and cheerful as ever. The rest of the monkeys were asleep except Chistery and he hobbled over to Glinda.

"Ms. Glinda?" he asked, his speech was very good, and he even gave her a smile.

She smiled at him, quite sleepily, "Hello Chistery," she said softly.

He sat down next to her, and leaned against her shoulder. That reminded Glinda of the time that she and Elphaba rode the train together to the Emerald City, and she smiled a little, and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"I don't think I'm cut out for prison, Chistery," she remarked to the snow monkey playfully, and she laughed at herself, "Oh Oz, listen to me. I'm acting like I was back at Shiz. Prison's not that bad, I suppose. I've only been here for six hours or so."

"Try being here for years dearie and then complain to me that you're not cut out for this!" called out Morrible with a dark laugh from the other wing.

Glinda frowned, disliking that Morrible and probably Boq could hear what she and Chistery were talking about.

"So, Ms. Glinda, what do you want to talk about?" asked Chistery in a low voice.

"An escape plan," said Glinda simply.

Chistery perked up, and leaned off of her shoulder, "You think we can get out of here alive? Ms. Glinda, Elphaba always said that you were stupid and blonde and I always thought she was wrong, but no never-mind. She was right," the words came out of his mouth before he could stop them, and he saw her flinch slightly at Elphaba's name.

"Ms. Glinda, I- I didn't mean to-"

"No, she was right. She was always right. Did she talk about me a lot? It seemed like she did, the way you just talked about her?" asked Glinda curling her knees to her chest, and draping her dress over them daintily.

Chistery sighed, "She did. Some days she would call you a traitor, others she would laugh and talk about the good times when you two were best friends. It depended on what side of the bed she woke up on the morning. She could be very nice or very cruel when she talked about you," he explained.

He was waiting for her to burst into tears, he thought she was expecting a wonderful reminisce of herself in Elphaba's eyes, and so he watched her expression.

Her mouth turned up into the tiniest smile, "Yes, well I did deserve the title of traitor at one point or another in her eyes. I don't mind that she talked about me like that just the fact that she talked about me at all makes me smile. We really were best friends you know, " giggled Glinda, thinking of the time she had given Elphaba a makeover in their dorm.

"Yes we know!" called out Boq and Morrible at the same time; which caused Glinda to grow cold and silent.

"So, have they begun questioning you all yet?" asked Glinda after a long time of silence. It was nearly midnight, and most of the prisoners were asleep.

"Not yet," Chistery said shaking his head, "But you'll know when they start. You won't be able to miss it."

Before Glinda had the chance to ask why, Chistery had laid down on the floor and feel fast asleep.

Uneasily, for her fear of creepy crawling things was quite big, Glinda lay down next to him, and feel asleep, dreaming that none of this had ever happened.

Meanwhile in the Thousand Years Grassland, two invisible figures waited in the tall grass for some snow monkeys who would never arrived. After waiting for several hours, and making sure that no one was around or nearby, they lifted the invisible spell to reveal Elphaba and Fiyero.

"Why aren't they here? We've been planning this for months, Yero. Why are they not here?" asked Elphaba, looking out towards the miles of grass that covered the field.

Fiyero shrugged, and laid down in the grass, the moonlight on his face, "I don't know, Fae. Maybe we should just relax for a bit, and see if they come."

Elphaba whipped her head to look at him, and then looked down at him, her face cross.

"Don't you dare go back to your carefree prince days, Yero! You know I hated you like that. You were adorable, but so lazy."

He reached out his hand upwards, and pulled her down to the ground with a playful smile. She fell on top of him and they smiled at each other just because they were not uncomfortable about being on top of each other like this. Elphaba glared at him, but had a hard time keeping a straight face. Eventually she kissed him on the lips, and he kissed her back, and Elphaba had to smile.

Then they both heard rustling a few yards back and voices, and Elphaba quickly and silently cast the invisible spell on herself, Fiyero and what little things they had with them. They moved slowly trying not to make much noise, even though no one could see them. The people moving in the grasslands came their way, and Elphaba and Fiyero moved out of their way, and just listened.

"- And did you hear about the monkeys? Chained up in Southstairs with Ms. Blondie Goody-Goody herself! No wonder Lord Chuffrey is returning to the Palace, he didn't even know that this was going on. Me neighbor was the one that came back from a visit in the EC, and he told me what happened. Says that Cherrystone fella found some evidence her Ozness's room, and he used it against her to put her in Southstairs. What do you think of all this, Walters," remarked one man with shaggy white hair, and a beard with a torn up bag over his shoulder.

"Think it's ridiculous. She called herself Galinda, Glinda whatever, The Good and now she's in Southstairs for crimes with the Wicked Witch Of The West? I say they kill her," said Walters another older man who had a bag around his shoulders, his dark eyes gleaming at the thought.

Fiyero had to restrain Elphaba from magicking him right there on the spot.

"They might. If Cherrystone finds her guilty. She was pretty, I will give you that, but I knew she couldn't have been all-good. You could kinda see it in her eyes, that she was holding something back, you know Walters?"

They stopped walking then, and set up their camp right next to Elphaba and Fiyero who were both glad for the warm fire. They even stole a little bit of their food.

Ever still, they remained there, knowing that it was too risky to move now, and they had no other choice.

Bascal and Walters continued to talk about what had happened, and how they planned to go to the Emerald City to help in a riot or the execution that they were both hoping would happen.  
"How do you think they'd kill her? Obviously they'd give 'er some sort of dignity being the ruler of Oz now, but I'm wonderin how they plan to do it?" said Bascal, as he sipped on another beer.

Elphaba tensed up, and she raised her hand to slap Bascal when Fiyero grabbed her hand, and hugged her tightly. He wanted to slap Bascal too, but this was not the time.

Walters pondered over that for a moment, and Fiyero watched his middle-aged face go through several different emotions.

"The Paraffin Necklace?" guessed Walters with a puzzled look on his face. Fiyero felt Elphaba freeze again as she leaned against him, her tears silently falling on his cloth skin. He hugged her tighter, and kissed the top of her head.

"Paraffin Necklace? Why does that sound familiar?" brawled Bascal with a frown.

"It's the necklace they used way back when during the times of the Time Dragon Clock. A brutal piece of work that is. Sends electrocutions all through your body, cuts off your air supply, and leaves you to die like that. That's the only way I've seen anyone get executed, so I can only guess that's how they'll do it," said Walters with a shrug of his shoulders.

Fiyero's face remained impassive, but he could not suppress the images that were coming to his mind. Glinda writhing in pain with a necklace around her throat was not a happy picture, and Fiyero had to bite his lip hard not to shout out something.

"You don't think they'll 'ang 'er, do you? Maybe with the left over ropes from the Wizard's balloon or something…" Bascal chuckled at this, and Elphaba hissed at him. Both men looked around at the noise, and Fiyero clamped one hand over Elphaba's mouth, and he did not breath. Finally they relaxed.

"Hang her? Hm, now that's an intriguing idea. I'll vouch that it will cross their minds no doubt, but I really don't know," sighed Walters.

"Well, maybe in the morning we can figure out some other ideas and give 'em to Cherrystone," laughed Bascal as he stumbled into the tent.

Walters just smirked and he followed Bascal into the tent, closing the flap to avoid the bugs, and soon the lantern went out, and they were asleep.

Elphaba and Fiyero then quietly and quickly left their campsite, still invisible, and soon they came to the cross road in the Yellow Brick Road where Fiyero had been tortured by the Gale Force just only two years ago.

Elphaba lifted the spell once more, and they could be seen now. Neither of them said anything for a long time, until once they were curled up against each other in a makeshift tent they carried with them.

"What's our next move?" asked Fiyero looking at her thoughtfully.

Elphaba rolled over, and sighed. She knew what they had to do, but it was just so dangerous.

"We're going to Southstairs and freeing Glinda and my monkeys before that Cherrystone man kills them."

Fiyero raised an eyebrow, "We can't. It's too dangerous."

"I know. But… I can't even think of what would happen if… she died, and they all died. It would kill me Fiyero! Keeping this from her these past two years has been killing me! We need to save her because it seems like we will be the only ones that will. We're the only ones with enough power that still cares about her. You heard what those men said. They would see her dead right now. She needs our help. And I have the perfect spell for us to use, and I promise that we will not get caught. Trust me," she begged.

"I do, I trust you. Then we're off to the Emerald City first thing tomorrow morning. I love you."

"I love you too," said Elphaba kissing him sweetly.

Then she pulled away, and leaned against his chest soon falling asleep only hoping that they would be able to save Glinda and Chistery and the others before it was too late.

Back at Southstairs, Glinda awoke to chattering and panic among the inmates, and she blinked her eyes and looked around.

Some of the guards had a couple of the monkeys in their grasp, trying to clip their wings so that they would not fly away. Glinda, horrified, turned away knowing that there was nothing she could do.

Chistery looked back at her with haunted eyes and said with a frightening tone of honesty, "I told you that you would know when they started."

With that, they heard an ear- shattering screech from down the hall, and more yelling.

Glinda beckoned Chistery to sit by her, and he did. She tried to block out the screaming but it was to no avail.

"Chistery," she said after monkey after monkey got rounded up and never returned to the cell, "I need you to tell me something before they take you. I need to know this. I don't care if you are sworn to secrecy, but you must tell me this, please Chistery."

She looked at the last snow monkey that was with her, and a shiny tear slid down her cheek.

"Are they both still alive?"

Chistery took a deep breath, knowing that she was not going to leave him alone until he told her the truth.

"Yes, yes they are. They both are still alive, Ms. Glinda," he said slowly.

Glinda opened her mouth to say something when the door to their cell suddenly opened, and in came three guards who grabbed Chistery roughly, and clipped his wings.

Glinda tried to stop them, but one of them just pushed her aside, and she watched him go.

As he was being dragged down the hallway, she heard him yell to her:

"When she comes, hear her out! Hear them both out! It's not what it seems, Ms. Glinda!"

And that was the last of him Glinda heard of.


	8. Blackmail and Things Gone Wrong

Lord Chuffrey was riding in his carriage, anxious and worried as they entered The Emerald City. He had been in Munchkinland at the time when one of his and Glinda's most trusted advisors' had told him that his wife, ruler of Oz Lady Glinda had been arrested by their own Commander of the Gale Force. None of it had made any sense to him, and as soon as he heard called for a carriage to take him back to the Emerald City to see what really was happening.

They arrived at the Palace in record time, and Chuffrey barged in to see Glinda gone, and in her place was Commander Cherrystone and his men.

"What in Oz's name is this Cherrystone? Where is Glinda?" shouted Chuffrey.

Cherrystone looked up from the maps that he was reading of Kiamo Ko and put on a fake smile.

"Glinda? Your wife, Chuffrey, has been arrested for crimes with the Wicked Witch Of The West, and is facing questions, and maybe even execution if convicted."

Chuffrey's face paled, and he stuttered, "Executed? What the devil do you mean, you can't execute my wife under suspicions? You have no right to imprison her nor execute her without firm evidence, Cherrystone and I will make sure that you never will."

Cherrystone saw no threat in that, and he laughed, "You think so. Well, you have no power over me now that she's been imprisoned and if you don't obey me I will have you executed as well. Do we have an understanding here, Chuffrey?"

Chuffrey lowered his gaze, knowing that he could not win against Cherrystone without Glinda's help.

"I guess we do, as long as she remains unharmed and alive," he begged looking at Cherrystone for any signs of mercy towards Glinda.

"For now," replied Cherrystone after a pause, and he got back to reading his maps without another look or word to Chuffrey.

Faye stood amongst the other servants in the hallway of the Palace, waiting to see where they would next be assigned to work. Since the Gale Force had now taken the Palace, and Emerald City over, the servants were now being dispersed all over the place. Faye, Priscilla, and Ella all stood together against the wall, keeping their heads low and their eyes on the ground.

"Where do you think we'll be put? You don't think they'll separate us, do you?" whispered Priscilla to Faye with worried eyes.

Faye thought about it for a moment, "I don't know. I hope not."

Priscilla looked disappointed as to Faye's answer, and she leaned back against the wall her chestnut hair falling over her shoulders. Ella peered around the corner to see five Gale Force members walking towards them with clipboards in their hands, and she started to shake.

"They're coming!" she whispered frantically and the other servants stopped talking, got silently still, and waited.

The guards stopped in a line in front of them, and one guard in particular, Lieutenant Marsh stepped forward with the clipboard in hand.

"As you all know," he started clearing his throat not really wanting to do this at all, "Your former ruler of Oz, Glinda has been imprisoned in Southstairs, and the Gale Force has now taken over Oz. We will be assigning you new posts to help serve the members of our Gale Force in different areas. Some of you will stay here, some will go abroad with the fighting ones, and some will go to Southstairs. When I call your name, please step forward."

Faye tensed up, and she heard Priscilla moan besides her.

"Allisandra Veneses, Priscilla Tenal, Ella Macraes, and Timothy Ubridge, please step forward."

Those people stepped forward, and Marsh read out where they would be assigned.

"You will remain here at the Palace, you are dismissed now."

They fled the hallway, and Ella and Priscilla gave Faye sad looks as they left.

Faye listened as he read the next line of names, and did not get called. Those people got to go with the fighting guards. Faye with a sudden realization knew where she was going to be.

Her name got called in the final line, and she stepped forward along with seven others.

"You all are going to report to Southstairs in 2 hours. Pack your stuff, and meet us at the carriage gates. Failure to do so will result in living in Southstairs, is that clear?"

They all mumbled yes, and were dismissed. Faye could only imagine what waited for her at Southstairs…

Back at Southstairs Glinda sat down on the cold floor of her cell, and had her eyes closed. Chistery had not come back yet, and she was terrified that he never would. She thought about what he had said to her before he got taken away. He had told her that Fiyero and Elphaba were alive. They really were not dead.

"But where are you two?" she mumbled out loud as she slowly re-awoke, and blinked. The damp walls of Southstairs made her tired and sad, and she yearned for the bright colors of the Emerald City. She yearned for the color green in more ways than one.

Elphaba and Fiyero had been gone for two years, and no one has seen them until now. Glinda wondered why that was. How could she stay hidden for two years and then suddenly slip up? It didn't seem like something that Elphaba would do.

Glinda then tried to pick through her hair with her fingers, trying to make it look somewhat presentable, but it was an unsuccessful attempt.

She sighed, hungry and tired and wished that Chuffrey would hurry up and save her. Or someone else that would come and save her. She moved around slowly, and picked at the dirt under her fingernails. She had nothing better to do.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw General Teaville pass by her cell, and she called out to him.

"General, has anybody notified my husband of my imprisonment? I'm sure he'd be at your door for my release right away."

Teaville turned around at her, and just shook his head, "I wish, Your Ozness. But apparently Cherrystone has blackmailed him with your life to not interfere with his plans. You do know he plans to convict you, Lady Glinda," he said softly not wanting it to be true. Truthfully General Teaville liked Glinda as ruler; she was a good ruler always helping the people. Now that she was faced with imprisonment, Teaville felt even more sorry for her, and would do anything to help her.

"What?" cried out Glinda, getting up from her corner and crossing to the other side of the cell to look Teaville in the eyes, "He blackmailed my Chuffers with my life?"

Teaville gave her a queer look at the use of the pet name, Chuffers, but answered her.

"Yes," he said, "He did. He told Chuffrey that if he wanted you to stay alive for the time being he had to do whatever he says."

"You said… for the time being? What do you think he plans to do with me, General?" asked Glinda with a touch of fear in her voice.

Teaville sighed, "I really have no idea, Your Ozness. I will let you know if I hear of anything."

She nodded, and thanked him. He left her to her thoughts, and she sat back down again on the floor.

For the time being… that rolled around in her head many times. The Gale Force couldn't possibly kill her. It had never been done before, and the Ozians weren't really the ones who welcomed change. Look at how they treated The Matter Of Dorothy? She hoped that she had more time to figure things out than she thought she did.

Time was running out, and Glinda was this close to knowing the truth….

At the Palace, Chuffrey stood in the meeting room alone with the speech that Cherrystone had written for him in his hands. Ever since Chuffrey had gotten back, every-time he tried to defy him Cherrystone would tease him with the threat that he would kill Glinda, and Chuffrey was forced to back off. He never knew when Cherrystone was going to be serious or not, so he decided to play it safe. But it wasn't easy. Chuffrey was forced to be Cherrystone's personal public image while he pulled the strings from behind a curtain.

He looked down at the speech one more time, and read it:

People of Oz,

You have been betrayed by one of your own. Your ex-ruler of Oz, Your Ozness Glinda Upland of the Upper-Uplands has been involved in the crimes of the Wicked Witch Of The West, and is now imprisoned in Southstairs.

If enough evidence is brought forward she will be executed, so if you know anything please tell any member of the Gale Force and she will be put to death immediately. As for the sightings of the Witch, and the Scarecrow there are true. She is back. Be on the lookout and do not try to deal with her by yourselves. Your new ruler, Oz Cherrystone will take care of her, and her clueless companion. You have nothing to fear with His Oz Cherrystone is charge.

Chuffrey couldn't believe how ridiculous this speech was. First off, no one really knew if the Witch was back, and no one had even said that Cherrystone was now in charge. Chuffrey knew that this was going to turn bad very quickly if something was not changed. He had to think of a plan.

Cherrystone came into the room then, and looked at Chuffrey.

"You have it memorized I presume, right?" he remarked to him. Chuffrey nodded, and Cherrystone gave a quick jerk of his head, "Go on then."

Chuffrey walked past him, and out onto the balcony.

"People of Oz," he started as he looked out into the crowd. He paused for a moment and then began talking again.

"You have been betrayed by one of your own. Your ex-ruler of Oz, Your Ozness Glinda Upland of the Upper-Uplands has been involved in the crimes of the Wicked Witch Of The West, and is now imprisoned in Southstairs.

If enough evidence is brought forward she will be executed, so if you know anything please tell any member of the Gale Force and she will be put to death immediately. As for the sightings of the Witch, and the Scarecrow there are true. She is back. Be on the lookout and do not try to deal with her by yourselves. Your new ruler, Oz Cherrystone will take care of her, and her clueless companion. You have nothing to fear with His Oz Cherrystone is charge."

He could hear the crowd murmur words of fear, shock.

"I don't understand why Glinda would lie to us?"

"Who is this Cherrystone person? I don't remember electing him?"

"This is not right. I want Glinda back."

Fortunately the words were all in favor of Glinda, and that gave Chuffrey hope. The people of Oz really did love her, which would without a doubt help her.

It was all going well until one man; an older gentleman cried out, "If she's convicted, how will she die, Your new Ozness? Me friend and me had a few suggestions for ya!"

The crowd turned to see whom this person was, but Chuffrey did not recognize him or his friend.

He glanced up at Cherrystone who watched from the balcony above this one.

"What's your name, Ozian?" asked Cherrystone looking bored.

"Bascal, Your Ozness, and this is Walters, we've come a long way from Quadling Country. We want to see Ms. Blondie dead," laughed Bascal.

Chuffrey felt his blood boil, "How dare you speak like that about her?" he yelled at Bascal, but that was as far as he got before guards grabbed him and pulled him into the Palace.

Cherrystone watched amused, and he answered Bascal's question.

"If guilty, the Lady Glinda will be drowned to death, now if you will excuse me I have to go now to her interrogation," said Cherrystone as he waved and then crept back into the Palace.

He ordered for his carriage, and made way to Southstairs in a matter of minutes. His fellow guards there greeted him, and he made his way to Glinda's cell.

He saw her sleeping on the floor of her cell, her golden yellow dress dirty, her hair quite frizzy, and her make-up had dissolved off her face. This was the Glinda that no one ever saw.

"Get her out of there," ordered Cherrystone to one of the guards. He obliged, opening the cell door, and waking her up. She blinked a few times, saw Cherrystone standing there and put on the coldest face she could muster. Her eyes were dark and cruel, and she held her lips in a frown.

"Glinda," Cherrystone said pleasantly, grabbing her hand and kissing it. Glinda slapped him hard in the face, and pulled her hand away.

Cherrystone was furious, but he composed himself to a calmer state.

"Come now," he said as he grabbed her wrist tightly and brought her to an empty room with two chairs in it. He motioned for her to sit, and she did.

Then he shut the door and locked it, all the more better. Glinda, as she sat down, couldn't help but notice the massive bloodstains all over the room, scratch marks on the door, and pieces of metal on the floor. She could only expect the worse from this room, and she summoned all of her courage. She sat down like a regal, and Cherrystone was impressed that despite everything she could still manage to look like a ruler, and act like one too. He wondered if she had learned that at Shiz, or was it in her nature.

He turned towards her, and sat down in the opposite chair.

"And so begins your interrogation, Glinda Upland of the Upper-Uplands…"


	9. Reveals, Torture, and Disguises, Oh My!

Glinda sat in a chair opposite of Cherrystone, and she glared at him with all the hate she could send with her eyes.

"You aren't really going to do this to me, are you?" she asked her voice calm.

Cherrystone offered her a pleasant smile, and she forced one back at him, "Yes Glinda, I am. This must be done."

Glinda sat up straighter, and looked Cherrystone in the eye, "Alright then, ask away."

He smiled at her, "Where were you on the night when the Wicked Witch Of The West was murdered?"

"I was at my home with Chuffers taking a nice bubble bath," she replied rather quickly.

He leaned forward towards her, his tongue clicking in disappointment, "Now Glinda, you and I both know that's not where you were that night, right?"

She blanched, and tried to keep a passive face, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, Glinda I know you do. You were there that night weren't you? At Kiamo Ko? You saw Dorothy and her little friends and saved your friend, isn't that right?" asked Cherrystone slowly trying to break Glinda's passive face.

Her lips twitched, and he leaned back satisfied.

"Yes," she answered softly looking at her heels, "But I told you I did not save her. She's dead."

"Really? Did you know that she's been spotted all around Oz? With some Scarecrow man. The two of them are an odd couple don't you think, Glinda? Who is the Scarecrow man, we will have him put to death, and then the Witch," said Cherrystone trying to get more information out of the Good Witch.

"I don't know who he is. I just know him as the Scarecrow just like everyone else. And how do you know that these sightings are not illusions, tricks of the mind? Maybe someone is messing with all of our heads?" said Glinda poised. She was lying on the spot and could only hope that Cherrystone could not see that.

"That's impossible. Have you ever known anyone else that has had green skin in Oz? It's not very common and you know that," teased Cherrystone.

"No, I agree that it's not. But I highly doubt that she's alive. I saw her melt. The skin fell off from her face, how in Oz am I supposed to believe you when I saw that?" shot back Glinda.

"Maybe that, my dear Glinda, was the illusion she wanted us to all believe. I think that's just what you and her wanted all of Oz to believe, now where is she?" pressed the new ruler of Oz.

Glinda huffed, "I don't know where she is!" she snapped her temper lost, "She and Fiyero didn't tell me! They didn't even tell me that they were alive! They just left without me!"

Silence passed for a moment, and then Glinda took in a horrified breath as she realized what she had just said out loud.

"Oz almighty," she gasped not even daring to look at Cherrystone now.

"Repeat those last few sentences for me now, Glinda," said Cherrystone very slowly and excited.

His eyes gleamed at the possibility of finally cracking the great Glinda the Good, and he had to be sure.

Glinda looked down at her shoes, and held her gaze there refusing to look at him.

"Fine," Cherrystone said hard, "We'll do this the hard way."

As soon as he left and slammed the door, Glinda started frantically looking for some way to get out of the room before the torturing started, for she knew that that was next.

Elphaba and Fiyero hid in an abandoned alley a couple of days afterwards just near Southstairs to wait until the opportune moment to cast the spell for their disguises. Elphaba silently said the enchantment to lift the invisible spell, and then as soon as it was lifted, she casted the disguise spell.

Afterwards, Elphaba looked to Fiyero, who looked just like a Gale Force guard with real skin and not cloth. Fiyero looked at Elphaba who looked like a servant with normal skin color with her long black hair, and deep brown eyes.

They had already planned everything out; they were ready to do this.

They looked at each other, and nodded.

Fiyero then took Elphaba's arm roughly, and guided her to the entrance of Southstairs.

The two guards outside stopped him, and asked what his business was.

"Halt. What rank are you, and who is the girl?" asked one of the guards.

"I am Private Manners, Stevan Manners sirs, and this is the servant girl I found trying to leave the Palace. I was told that I had to bring her here, and that you needed one more guard to help out around here," lied Fiyero.

The real Stevan Manners had been dead for two years now, but no one knew that so his cover was good.

The guards nodded, and let them in.

Fiyero and Elphaba stepped inside Southstairs to see dead carcasses of some of her flying monkeys. Elphaba had to cover her whole mouth with her hands to keep herself from vomiting at the stench and sight of them.

Fiyero, stunned and disgusted, led her away from the decaying bodies gingerly and brought her over to General Teaville.

General Teaville glanced at both of them, and motioned for Fiyero to come closer.

"You can take her to one of the servant girls' named Faye and they will take care of Cell Five, and then you can guard Morrible's cell with Karkaff."

Fiyero nodded, and while still holding a firm grip on Elphaba's arm, took her over to where the other servants were.

"Is Faye here?" he asked as they all got scared expressions on their faces because a Gale Force guard was looking at them.

A girl with long brown hair, and dark brown eyes looked at him, "I'm Faye. Why- why do you ask?" she stammered trembling slightly.

"I was told to bring this girl here to you, and that you and her are supposed to go to Cell Five," said Fiyero not wanting to terrify the girl.

Faye nodded, and looked at Elphaba, "Well come on you," she said superiorly, and Elphaba had no choice but to follow and leave Fiyero behind.

Faye led the way down a long passageway to Cell 5, and Elphaba tagged along quietly. But she did have her eye out in case she saw Glinda or any of her monkeys that were still alive.

"So what's your name?" asked Faye suddenly turning around a corner, and facing Cell Five.

"E-Elaina," stammered Elphaba almost blowing her cover.

"Hi Elaina, I'm Faye. Did you get thrown out of the Palace as well? They rounded up all of Lady Glinda's servants as soon as she was imprisoned and had us shipped off to different places. Some of them are still at the Palace," said Faye with a shudder.

"I was caught trying to run away, my mother put me in this line of work as soon as they were asking for servants," answered Elphaba already having her story in her mind.

"Oh, that's awful. My Mama died when I was twelve, and Lady Glinda took me as one of her maids soon afterwards. I've always looked up to her after that. I still can't believe that that Commander, I'm sorry new Ruler of Oz imprisoned her," said Faye with a shake of her head.

Elphaba brought her gaze into the cell, and saw a bloodied figure slumped against the wall, and her eyes narrowed as she realized who it was.

It was her favorite monkey servant, Chistery, and Elphaba's heart ached.

She didn't realize that she had been completely ignoring Faye and watching Chistery until the girl snapped her fingers in front of Elphaba's face, causing her to look at her with surprise.

"You okay?" asked Faye her eyes narrowed.

"Sure. How did those monkeys get in here anyways?"

Faye sighed, "Well apparently one of Cherrystone's troops was out in the Vinkus, and they came across many flying monkeys, and the Witch and her Scarecrow lover. But the Witch and the Scarecrow just disappeared as soon as the Gale Force saw them, and the monkeys were left alone. Cherrystone ordered them to be captured and brought here for questioning. Most of them died under questioning. This little guy was actually in here with Lady Glinda for a while and then…." But she trailed off and didn't finish, leaving Elphaba wanting to throttle her.

"Where is Lady Glinda?" asked Elphaba having a hard time remembering to call her Lady Glinda, and not Glin or Glinny.

Faye sucked in a breath, and seemed to wavering whether or not to tell Elphaba.

"Dead I think. Or I would hope so on her part if she went through what I did," croaked out Chistery from the back of the cell.

Elphaba tensed at this, and she whirled on Chistery, "What?" she managed to get out.

Faye answered her question, "Cherrystone took her in for questioning a few days ago, and he let this one go, but no one has seen her for days."

"And the screaming stopped about this time yesterday," said Chistery darkly.

Elphaba felt the color drain from her face, and she grabbed onto one of the bars to steady herself, "Screaming?" she repeated her voice as high as Glinda's.

Chistery looked darkly amused, and he answered her, "Yes you simpleton, the screaming. My guess is that he had his guards torture her. She refuses to tell him something and Cherrystone will do anything to get that piece of information. Please tell me that you knew that he is blackmailing Glinda's husband to do his bidding in exchange for her life? It's all gone downhill ever since Glinda made that speech about Morrible escaping from prison. I wouldn't be surprised if Cherrystone organized that with Morrible herself. The sick man."

"Don't you dare call me a simpleton, Chistery not after everything I've done for you," hissed Elphaba dangerously, completely forgetting her cover and was angry with her only monkey servant left.

Chistery's eyes glimmered, and he hobbled over to her. Faye looked as confused as ever and just watched.

"Are you are who I think you are?" asked Chistery with labored breathing.

Elphaba just smiled at him, and said, "Yes. I think so."

"Prove it."

Elphaba obliged, and turned to Faye, "Faye dear, I think I left something back out front. Could you go check and see if I did for me?"

Faye looked at her with suspicion, "You can go check yourself," she said with sass.

Elphaba's eyes widened dangerously, and she fought the urge to slap some sense into the girl.

"Just go please," hissed Elphie.

Faye frowned, but she left obediently for Elphaba was older than her, and could get her into a lot of trouble. But Faye stuck around, and hid around a corner and she just listened.

Elphaba looked around to make sure that no other prisoners or guards were around. There were none, Chistery was the only one in this hallway of prisoners, and there was a big huge door blocking the entrance in the front so that no guards could see them.

Chistery and Elphaba both had no knowledge that Faye was hiding in the shadows, and that she hadn't left at all.

Finally Elphaba lifted the disguise spell, muttering the counter words under her breath revealing her green skin and everything else. She was still wearing a black homespun dress, like spider webs, and she had on her infamous combat boots. The only thing that was missing was her hat, which Glinda had taken, and her broom, which they had hid in their bag of belongings.

Chistery's face turned into a smile as soon as he saw her.

"I knew you'd come," he said laughing a bit, "I just knew it."

Elphaba gave him a small sad smile, "So tell me about this Cherrystone man? What is he up to?"

"He has some obsession that you are still alive, and he wants to get rid of you. It has also been burned in his mind that Glinda helped you two escape and he wants her gone as well. So he made his way up the ranks of the Gale Force, and eventually becoming Commander, and then he imprisoned Glinda for crimes with you. Let me tell you Elphaba he has no intention of sparing Glinda. Any evidence, any evidence at all that he can find connecting her to your death night he will use against her and kill her."

Elphaba ran one dull emerald hand through her hair in frustration.

"This is all my fault. We should have told her from the beginning and brought her with us. We shouldn't have lied to her," she said softly to herself.

"I told her a couple of days ago. She asked me straight out and I told her the truth. I knew she needed to know. It was the only way. And besides I didn't know if I was even going to have another chance to tell her. So I told her when I did," said Chistery.

"I don't blame you, Chistery. I would have done the same thing. It's just…. I didn't want to hurt her. And now," she shuddered, "she could be dead because of Fiyero and I."

"What is your plan?" asked Chistery looking her over.

Elphaba cursed and circled, "There is no plan. This is as far as we had gotten. We didn't think it would be this bad."

"Well, it is. It's quite worse actually. I'm assuming you saw my brothers and sisters corpses on your way in. That's how bad it is, and Elphaba it's only going to get worse," warned the snow monkey.

Elphaba nodded tearfully, "I know, I know. So how bad is it? The torturing I mean…"

Chistery shrugged, "Pretty bad."

"What did they do to you?" asked Elphaba desperately trying not to think of Glinda in pain.

"Well they clipped my wings, and beat me up with clubs. I doubt they'll do that to Glinda though. They better not," said Chistery with disgust.

Elphaba bit her lip hard to not vomit at the thought.

"You know that girl will be back soon, and the guards are probably coming soon so you should change back now. Come back here tonight with Fiyero, and I will tell you more, and I think I know what we need to save her," said Chistery.

Elphaba nodded, and turned her gaze to the right near the door and peered at the corner. Something had caught her eye. She marched over there, and pulled out Faye by her hair.

"What are you doing there? How much did you hear?" Elphaba demanded looking very enraged.

"You're- you're the Witch!" cried out Faye in fear as Elphaba let go of her hair, and she fell to the ground, "What do you want?"

"I want, " Elphaba hissed, " to know how much you heard, and why you did not leave when I asked you to?"

"I-I was just curious so I didn't leave, and then I heard your name and I knew it from when Lady Glinda talked to me when she had that really bad fever. I heard all of it. I know who you are, my mother went to school with you and Glinda!" explained Faye nervously.

"Went to school with us? What was your Mother's name?" asked Elphaba, quickly putting her disguise spell back on, and transforming right in front of Faye.

"Milla. She said you and her had History class together with Dr. Dillamond. She was kind of friends with your sister, Nessarose," said Faye.

Elphaba vaguely remembered her sister talking about Milla but now that she was thinking she did remember her sister saying one time that Milla was taking her and a friend out for a shopping trip for the OzDust ballroom dance that had happened.

She stared at Faye, her transformation back to her 'servant girl' look, and she watched as Faye got up from the ground, dusting herself off.

"How do I know that we can trust you?" asked Elphaba sternly.

"I was placed to take care of Lady Glinda when she was deathly sick a couple of weeks ago. She ranted on and on about you and Fiyero and I didn't tell a soul about it. Not even her husband. You can trust me, Elphaba after all she did," reminded Faye.

That stung a bit, and Elphaba finally nodded her head, "Alright. Fine. But now you get to keep watch in case someone comes. And," Elphaba grabbed the girl by the shoulders and put her face close to hers, "if you ever tell a soul about us, I swear it will be the last thing you ever do. Is that understood?"

Faye nodded quickly, and Elphaba released her. She went and stood watch at the door while Elphaba and Chistery talked about options.

Commander Cherrystone came out of the interrogation room without a scratch on him, nor a spot of blood. He couldn't say the same for Glinda the Good who had been left in the room alone for quite a while now. He was finally satisfied with what information he had gotten from the monkeys and Glinda, and he now had enough information to convict Glinda and have her executed. There was just one thing that he was missing, and he knew the person he needed to talk to that would help him find it.

He made his way through several passageways of Southstairs and finally came to the person's cell that he needed to speak with.

Two guards stood at attention on either ends of the cell, and he motioned for them to move aside.

"Did you find what you were looking for, dearie?" asked a trembling but powerful voice from the cell.

"Yes, I did. She confessed that they are alive, but said that she did not help them. She said that this little green bottle and her hat was all that was left. She kept saying that she didn't even know that they were alive until a few days ago, but that is a lie that I can see right through. I just need one more thing to confirm my theory, and then we will have her executed at once, and that will bring her little friends right into our hands," exclaimed Cherrystone with glee.

Fiyero listened in with a blank stare on his face, but inside his thoughts were screaming. He had to tell Elphaba about this as soon as possible.

"What do you need, Cherrystone?" asked Morrible with a smirk on her face.

"The book. I need the book," said Cherrystone his eyes dark.

A look of amusement crossed on Morrible's face and she laughed.

"Ah yes, I know exactly which book you need, my boy. But I don't have it. She took it the first time she came to the Emerald City and I presume that she still has it. I tried looking for it when you 'released' me but I couldn't find it," admitted Morrible.

Cherrystone's face fell, and he pursed his lips.

"How do I get her in my hands? If I have her, then I have the book, correct?"

Morrible smiled smugly, "I would think so. Well, let's see last time poor Nessarose was our victim of choice, and- well I think you know who need to use as bait."

Cherrystone smiled wickedly, and chuckled darkly. He soon turned, and left without another word.

"Let me know when you find The Grimmerie, dearie! It is still mine!" called out Morrible as he walked away.

Fiyero had a hard time not running away and finding Elphaba after what he had just heard. He bit his lip, and tried to think of ways to pass the time so that he wouldn't kill himself with anxiety.

Back at Cell Five, Elphaba, Chistery and Faye were discussing ways to kill Cherrystone because they had ran out of failure escape plans to talk about, and ways to kill themselves.

"How about we melt him?" suggested Elphaba with a smirk.

"Hang him?" piped up Faye who was eyeing the door as well as listening for boots.

"Can't you just use a spell from the Grimmerie? That would save us all a whole lot of trouble," offered Chistery.

Elphaba sighed, "I gave it to Glinda before I 'died' and she's had it ever since," she paused and a smile spread across her face, "But you are right, Chistery! It's just what we need to save her and ourselves! She didn't have it with her did she?" asked Elphaba excited at the little hope she had.

"No, she didn't," replied Chistery, "It must be at the Palace. I do hope that Cherrystone hasn't gotten it first though."

"The Grimmerie? I flipped through that while I was taking care of Glinda in her room. I know exactly where it is. But how do we-" Faye stopped talking and tried to think of a way to get the Grimmerie from Glinda's room back to here.

"Well, do you have a plan?" asked Elphaba.

"Yes, I do," answered Faye as she soon started to discuss her plan to Elphaba and Chistery…

Back in the interrogation room Glinda laid on the floor, her face and body bruised and bloodied. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and her mind was spinning in terrible headaches and dizziness.

"I'm sorry Elphaba and Fiyero," she whispered as a tear fell from her face, and her eyes closed.


	10. Spells and Findings

Elphaba, Chistery, and Faye all looked over the note that Faye was going to send to her friends Ella and Priscilla who were back at the Palace once more;

Ella and Priscilla,

In Lady Glinda's room there is something of importance, a book called The Grimmerie that she needs you to find and bring to me as quickly as you can. DO NOT tell anyone that you are doing this, and burn this note as soon as you are done reading this.

The fate of her, and many others are in your hands. Do not mess this up.

Faye

"I think it's good," said Elphaba approvingly, "Are you sure we can trust these girls?"

Faye nodded, and Elphaba handed her the note.

"Go to the General, and say that you got an urgent message for Cherrystone from Chistery saying that he will confess that the Wicked Witch of the West is alive, and that you personally must deliver it to him. If he asks why just say because she is in Southstairs, and you have personal information that he needs. If that doesn't work, then I will just have magick him."

Faye nodded, taking this all in and then started off towards the entrance to Southstairs.

Chistery looked to Elphaba with some doubt in his eyes, "Are you sure this will work?"

She nodded reverently, "It has to. For our sake and Glinda's."

Fiyero watched as Faye came down the passageway and near the front of Southstairs with a look of hope on his face. He knew of the plan since he and Elphaba had been hiding out at night when mostly everyone got to go home at the old Corn Exchange across town. She had told him everything, practically in tears while she did so, and Fiyero held her as he heard about the monkeys, and about Glinda. That hurt the most, hearing about Glinda and the screaming. He had told her what he had heard between Morrible and Cherrystone, and that had only made her more upset. But after she had calmed down she realized that whatever they were planning to do they had to do it fast. It seemed like there was little hope, and they both knew it. But as he watched Faye going down the hallway and a glimmer of hope shone in his eyes.

This could be it.

He saw Faye get stopped by General Teaville, put then she got past him and she walked out of Southstairs without anyone giving her a second glance at.

A joyous smile spread across his face, and he knew that in due time everything was going to be all right.

Back at the Palace, Cherrystone was mulling in his new office as to what to do about finding The Grimmerie. He knew that Glinda had to have it, but where did she keep it? It was a maddening chase just to get what he wanted and for Lurline's sake Oz wasn't even that big! Someone must know where the Grimmerie had gone…. Cherrystone had already talked to Morrible, and using her as a valuable aide was of great importance to him. But he knew her ways, Cherrystone could only use her for so long and then she will become power hungry, and he mustn't let that happen. No, he needed someone else. A thought crossed his mind, and he grinned devilishly while looking at a map of the territories of Oz.

"Chuffrey," he said out loud as he got up suddenly from the desk and strode into the hideaway room where Lord Chuffrey was being contained.

"Where is it?" demanded Cherrystone looking at the older man.

Chuffrey sat on the edge of the old dusty bed with a look of hatred on his face as he stared at the man who had captured his wife and was now blackmailing him to keep her alive.

"Where is what?" he asked his voice sharp, and was that a note of fear that Cherrystone detected in the deep tremors of his voice?

"You know exactly what I am talking about, Chuffrey," said Cherrystone in an even tone as he paced his steps as he walked over to the old man.

Chuffrey sighed, and he put his head in his hands in defeat.

"No, I don't," he protested, "I'm sick of your games. Want do you want, Cherrystone? You defied my wife, and you hold me as your prisoner! You have all of the cards stacked with you. Just tell me what it is you need…"

"The book, I need the book," said Cherrystone looking furious in his bright red Commander of the Gale Force uniform with black boots. Chuffrey saw a glimpse of a fear in Cherrystone's dark brown eyes that were half-masked by his uncut shaggy sandy hair.

"There are hundreds of books in Oz, do you know the title?" asked Chuffrey.

"It's called The Grimmerie. The last person rumored to have it was Glinda, and she must have told you about it, isn't that right?" snapped Cherrystone, finally loosing his patience.

Chuffrey however remained calm, "No, she did not. Glinda kept a lot of secrets from me, but then again what woman doesn't?"

"That's not the point!" shouted Cherrystone his face red with anger, "I need to know where the Ozdamned book is!"

"Well I don't know where it is," stated Chuffrey as he watched the new ruler of Oz kick at the wall in frustration, "Now I want to know what you did with Glinda?" Chuffrey's voice had gone lower, menacing and Cherrystone looked at him with amused eyes.

"Let's just say that if I don't find this book, she won't have a chance," threatened Cherrystone.

Chuffrey could only stare, "What did you do to her?" he roared and almost lunged at Cherrystone when he stopped himself and stood up teetering on his sanity. He knew that one false move and he and Glinda would be dead in a matter of seconds.

"Just tell me," he pleaded softly.

"I let the Gale Force go at her, but only after she refused to answer my questions about her being at Kiamo Ko that night when the Wicked Witch died, and that she knew that they were alive."

"They?" repeated Chuffrey with a touch of confusion in his voice.

"The Wicked Witch Of The West, and the Scarecrow who apparently is her ex-fiance in disguise, Fiyero Tiggular," answered Cherrystone.

"My wife never said anything about that," defended Chuffrey but he knew that that was Glinda had kept from him. That she knew the Wicked Witch Of The West, and that she knew a lot of other stuff about her fellow Ozians.

"Did she tell you that they all went to school together? Glinda, Elphaba, Fiyero, Nessarose, and Boq? They were all friends. How ironic is that, that these friends turn out to be the most influential, wickedest, brainless, feared, and heartless people in all of Oz?" expressed Cherrystone with a forced laugh.

"Why do you know so much about them?" asked Chuffrey stroking his beard slightly in order to stay calm.

"I like to know who my leaders are," answered Cherrystone simply, "And Glinda has a lot of secrets to be revealed. But then again so did our Glorious Wizard. Did you know that he is the father of the Wicked Witch Of The West?"

Chuffrey's mouth opened, and he stared shocked at Cherrystone.

"A scandal really! She was working against her own father, but apparently only Glinda knew that, well until a few days ago when I tortured it out of her."

"How did you torture her? I swear if you laid your filthy hands on her-" started Chuffrey losing his temper at the thought of his sweet Glinda being harmed by this sadistic Commander.

"I don't want to release the details of it, Lord Chuffrey. I have a reputation to uphold now don't I?" teased the ruler, and Chuffrey pursed his lips in order not to scream at him, "But I did lay my hands on her, and there's nothing that you can do about that. I told her it was for the lack of you not being there, and she seemed to agree with me…"

A wave of sickness passed through Chuffrey as he processed this, "You will never do that to her again, do you hear me? And I bet she hated every minute of it, you bastard!"

Cherrystone smirked, "Wrong choice of words, Chuffrey. Once I find The Grimmerie she will be disposed of as soon as I say so. But who says I won't have a little fun with her before she goes? It's not like you can stop me…"

Later that day, Priscilla and Ella were confronted by Faye who mysteriously gave them a note, and then fled very soon afterwards without so much as another word.

Ella slipped the note into the front of her apron, and hid it until the appropriate time where both she and Priscilla could read it without being under the watchful eye of the Gale Force. Finally nearing dusk, the two girls managed to get away and sneak into Lady Glinda's room to read the note since no one occupied that room anymore.

Ella took the note out from her apron and held it between her and Priscilla to read.

Ella and Priscilla,

In Lady Glinda's room there is something of importance, a book called The Grimmerie that she needs you to find and bring to me as quickly as you can. DO NOT tell anyone that you are doing this, and burn this note as soon as you are done reading this.

The fate of her, and many others are in your hands. Do not mess this up.

Faye

"The Grimmerie," mused Ella already looking at the numerous books in Lady Glinda's shelves while Priscilla quickly started a fire so that the note could be burned.

"Priscilla I can't find this book anywhere!" complained Ella rereading all of the titles of the books on the shelves until she came back to one that read Gone With The Wind. Curious and a bit annoyed with not finding The Grimmerie, Ella picked it up and looked through it. When she was done, she closed it and was amazed as the letters on the cover began to change and transform right before her eyes.

The title had been before, Gone With The Wind, but now it was as clear as day something else.

Ella felt Priscilla's presence to her side, and they both watched as the title appeared, as The Grimmerie and they knew that they had to get this to Faye as quickly as possible.

At Southstairs Elphaba, Chistery, and Fiyero all waited anxiously for Priscilla and Ella to come with The Grimmerie and give it to Faye as they all sat down near Chistery's cell. They were all in their disguises, Fiyero in his Gale Force uniform, and Elphaba in her maid attire.

Finally Faye opened the door to the hallway and came down it carrying the big large book in her arms.

Elphaba jumped up and immediately took it from her, already opening it up and franticly searching for some spell to change all of this.

Fiyero however remained calmer, and just put one hand on Elphaba's shoulders as she read through the Grimmerie, squinting and murmuring incantations as if to remind her that they all were still here.

Faye watched, curiously as Elphaba flipped from one page to the next, trying the spell in her head, and then shake her head and flip the page, and she tried again.

"There has to be something in here!" she yelled in exasperation and in frustration after a full hour of pouring over that book for one meaningful spell.

Fiyero murmured words of comfort in her ear, and she seemed to relax for a moment.

"I just can't bear the thought of losing her after all this time," whispered Elphaba after a moment of silence, and then she went back to reading.

Faye watched out for more guards but she was sure that they were safe here because Fiyero being posed as a guard had told General Teaville that he would be guarding Chistery with some maids to tend to him, and the General hadn't questioned it. She was sure that nothing could ever get in their way now.

"Aha!" exclaimed Elphaba soon afterwards, and everyone looked on as she murmured the words to a spell.

"Aka Numen kaka nemun," finished off Elphaba with a satisfied look on her face. She got up from the stone floor, and ventured out into the different hallways of cells, looking for something.

"Fae, what are we looking for?" hissed Fiyero following her, leaving Chistery and Faye behind back near his cell.

"Shh!" she cautioned, putting her hand around his mouth softly but firmly.

Fiyero shushed, and kept still while Elphaba slowly moved from around the corner. He watched as she looked this way and that way, and finally she ran over to a steel door near the back of the jail.

Fiyero followed behind her, taking care to look around to make sure that no one else was there. He caught up with her, and they both listened to the voices that were talking from inside the room.

"Now where did you put it?" asked a man's voice and Fiyero recognized it as Cherrystone's voice.

Then came next was a weak, high pitched voice that rang out in many octaves, but could only be the voice of one person, "I'm not going to tell you," said Glinda bravely, "You'll have to kill me."

Cherrystone laughed at this, and Fiyero felt Elphaba flinched harshly.

"Don't worry I plan to. But I need the book, now tell me where it is or I'll get my guards to come back here again. Judging by your screams from last night, I figure that you don't want them to come back now do you?" questioned Cherrystone with amusement in his voice.

"No," Glinda said softly, "But I refuse to tell you where it is."

"You're not the brightest Glinda, are you? If you were smart, you would realize that refusing me is the worst thing you can do. Your time is running out, Glinda. I would pick and choose my battles wisely before I'd do anything that I'd regret."

Glinda laughed, and it sounded so broken to Elphaba and Fiyero that they both held their breath to make sure that Glinda would still live after this confrontation, "If I were you, Commander I would remember who I am dealing with. I was the ruler of Oz, and I was and still am Glinda the Good. I care to have that remembered, sir. But that's beside the point, I want my Chuffers out of harms way now Cherrystone. I mean it!"

"I'll think on it, but first," then both Fiyero and Elphaba heard a slapping sound that rang out through the whole jail causing Glinda to yelp out in pain, "I'll leave you to think on what your answer is for me about that book. You'll have tonight to decide, and then I will have to torture it out of you, do you understand?" threatened Cherrystone.

Glinda's voice turned icy, and hard, "Go to hell Cherrystone!" she commanded, and for that she got another slap to the face, but then he opened the door and left the room.

As soon as the door opened, Fiyero and Elphaba ran for the dark corner of the end of the hallway, and hid there in the shadows and watched as Cherrystone left the room, and walked across the hallway and into the other part of Southstairs.

As soon as they knew that he was gone, Fiyero and Elphaba looked to the door and saw a bright light floating in the air by the door.

"I knew it would lead us to her," whispered Elphaba happily, "I told you, Yero."

Then they both proceeded to open the steel door, which was surprisingly not locked, and went inside.

A gruesome sight of blood, clubs, knives, ropes, and a figure in a pretty pale yellow dress with golden locks of hair greeted them.

"Glinda?" called out Elphaba in a weak voice, scared that they were too late for some reason and that she was already dead.

The figure on the floor stirred, and Elphaba who was wrapped up in Fiyero's arms walked over to her, and put one hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Glinda, it's me Elphaba. Glinda, come on now wake up!" pleaded Elphaba shaking her slightly.

Glinda moved slightly, and moaned in pain. Then she blinked a few times, and stared upwards into Elphaba and Fiyero's face with a look of confusion on her face.

"Elphie? Fiyero?"


	11. Caught

Glinda sat up startled because the voice she had heard said that her name was Elphaba. But as Glinda opened her eyes and looked up, to her bitter disappointment, she saw a woman with long brown hair, and brown eyes with pale, plain skin looking down at her worriedly. It must have been her imagination taking off with her sanity, but Glinda still couldn't help to say their names out loud.

"Elphie? Fiyero?"

"Glin, oh Glinda what happened to you?" cried out the woman as she put both her hands to Glinda's face as if to examine it.

Glinda didn't say anything, but she just looked at this woman trying to figure who she was.

"Glinda say something please! Anything," pleaded the woman as she looked worriedly to the Scarecrow man behind her.

That rang a bell in Glinda's mind. The Scarecrow man… now he was Fiyero right? She looked at him more closely, still not speaking. Yes it was he; no one could look that clueless more than Fiyero.

"Glinda, are you alright? Do you know who we are?" asked Fiyero slowly seeing the blonde's utterly confused face.

"You're Fiyero," she said looking at him, but then her eyes drifted towards Elphaba and she paused.

The woman's eyes turned soft, and she looked with a horrified expression to Fiyero.

"What has Cherrystone done to her?" she asked, her voice frayed and broken like she was on the verge of tears.

At that moment, Glinda put a hand to her pounding head only to pull away and find out that she was bleeding quite badly. Her palm was covered in thick red blood, and as she looked at it she felt dizzy.

"Maybe you should change out of your disguise, Fae," suggested Fiyero looking at Elphaba. Both of them had scared looks now. This could not be happening, not now.

Elphaba's face was filled with realization then, and she cried out, "Of course, no wonder she's confused. I'm not green."

With that she mumbled a few words, and within seconds her pale white skin turned green, and she looked at Glinda with her eyebrows raised.

"Does this help, Glinda?" she asked, trying to sound hopeful either way.

Glinda looked at her, her bloodied hand now on her lap.

"Elphie? Is that really you?" she whispered tears brimming her eyes. Elphaba nodded, and hugged her old friend tightly.

"I've missed you so much," whispered Elphaba as a tear fell from her face, and Glinda muffled a half-sob and laugh.

"I missed you too…" Glinda trailed off still dizzy, and in that state she forgot what Chistery had said to her about them still being alive, "So this is what death is like…"

Elphaba's head snapped up, her eyes narrowed, and her nostrils flared.

"Glinda, you're not dead," stated Elphaba.

Glinda looked back at her with a hard glare, "Yes I am. You both are dead, so I must be dead too. I don't even remember how I-"

Fiyero cut her off by putting his over her mouth, and kissing her forehead.

"Glin, stop this. You're making us have a panic attack every-time you talk. Listen to us Glinda, you are not dead. Now snap out of it, you little blonde!"

Glinda reeled back from the comment, and seemed to come back to her senses. She apologized, complaining that her head hurt, and the blood was making her slightly delirious.

"Can you stand?" asked Elphaba concerned.

Glinda shrugged, "Probably not. I don't think I want to anyways. I'm still very dizzy. And before I forget something again, why don't you both explain to me how the hell you both are alive? And the fact that you didn't tell me?"

Her voice was hard, upset, and frayed all at the same time. Fiyero and Elphaba both knew that she was angry with them for not telling her about them not dying, but they had to be safe and they wanted her to be safe too.

"Glinda, we promise we will. But it's just we need to get out of here now before Cherrystone or anyone else comes in and finds us. We don't have much time left," said Elphaba.

"I'd say so," remarked a cruel and harsh male voice from the doorway and all three of them looked to see who it was with fright.

"They're taking an awful long time, aren't they Chistery?" said Faye nervously as she paced around the snow monkey's cell while waiting for Elphaba and Fiyero to return with Glinda. It had been at least two hours, and they hadn't come back yet. Faye knew that Chistery was starting to get anxious.

"Yes, they are. I don't like it one bit," remarked Chistery.

Faye turned to face him, "Should we have followed them?"

"No, not me I can't even get out of this cage, and you… no you're too suspicious. I'm sure they'll be back soon," reassured Chistery even though he didn't really believe it. Something inside of him told him that something bad had happened.

Faye sat down on the ground, and played with some stones on the floor to occupy her time.

"So how did you get involved with all of this?" asked the girl while playing with her hair absentmindedly.

"With all of what?" asked the snow monkey a bit testily.

"With Elphaba and Fiyero, of course."

Chistery sat up, and paused, "I was brought here from the Other World by the Wizard. He was in a traveling circus and his act was the flying balloon act. He used to have us monkeys help him out with selling tickets and whatnot. But in the Other World I never used to be able to speak, I didn't even know I could. But then one day at the circus there was a cyclone-"

"Like Dorothy's cyclone?" interrupted Faye, moving closer to the bars of the cell so she could hear more clearly.

"Yes just like Dorothy's. But we, the monkey servants and I, and the Wizard were all in his balloon that day and we literally drifted to Oz. The Wizard was declared His Ozness, and he appointed us to help him whenever he needed us. He kept us in his cellar of the palace, and we were only brought out that one time… the time that Elphaba and Glinda came to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard. He picked me to come out of the cellar, and I was so glad. I thought I was finally getting out. I guess I was a bit overexcited when I saw Elphaba and Glinda standing in the Throne Room, and I was just glad to see light. Well then Madame Morrible and The Wizard asked Elphaba to perform a spell on me, a spell to make me fly. She did so; she didn't want to disappoint them. But it was immensely painful, my shoulder blades felt like they were on fire, and I screeched out in pain. Then I grew my wings, and I could fly. But the Wizard had done a very tricky and deceitful thing. He had Elphaba unknowingly give all of us monkeys' wings. But she didn't want us to be spies so she left to defy the Wizard and Madame Morrible. I stayed at the Palace, back down in cellar again and sometimes flying around Oz spying on people I didn't know for the Wizard. Five years later, Elphaba returns back to the Palace and she frees us monkeys'. We follow her back to Kiamo Ko after the death of her sister, and we decide that we were going to help her since she helped us."

Chistery took a breath at this part, and Faye let all of that sink in.

"So did you know that they faked their deaths?" was Faye's next question.

He nodded and wheezed in a breath, "Yes. We made sure to get the witch hunters out of the castle so that Fiyero and Elphaba could be reunited later that night. But we were sworn to secrecy not to tell Lady Glinda, or anyone else for that matter. Elphaba said that they might return back to Kiamo Ko, and she wanted us to stay there just in case something were to happen."

"So you've known all along," said Faye with a thoughtful expression on her face.

The snow monkey gave her a grim smile; "It was tough keeping it from everyone, especially Lady Glinda when things got rough. But we managed to stay true to Elphaba and Fiyero's wishes."

"Do you miss the Other World? What was it like?" asked Faye, who had never really heard of the Other World and was intrigued at the thought of a place other than Oz, like Can-zis like Dorothy had been from.

"Well," started Chistery with a small grin, "It's no place like home. It's so very different from Oz. Animals don't talk; there are no tictok creatures, no Tin Mans, Lions, nor Scarecrows. No flying houses either," he chuckled darkly at this, "but there are twisters. People are nice as long as you stay out of their way. And that's mostly it."

"Do they have an Emerald City like Oz?"

"Something like it. It's called The White House. It's where their ruler lives, called the President."

Faye bit her lip and thought for a moment while the snow monkey reveled in his memories of his time in the Other World.

"Do you think that the Wizard went-" Faye started her question when suddenly the door to hallway that they were in burst open, and she stopped mid-sentence, hiding the Grimmerie in the pocket of her apron.

A guard, General Teaville to be exact came in, roughly dragging another prisoner into the cell next to Chistery's. He took notice of Faye, and gave her a look that was soft yet harsh at the same time.

"Leave, now please," he asked her, his face tired and weary.

Faye bit her lip, looked at Chistery who nodded with the slightest jerk of his head, and she left with her head and eyes on the floor without another word even though inside she was screaming because Elphaba and Fiyero hadn't come back yet.

Chistery watched as the new prisoner got into his cell, his face concealed with his extremely high collared grey waistcoat, and a black top hat.

"Here you are sir. I'm truly very sorry about this," remarked Teaville as he locked the cell and walked away.

The prisoner remained silent and still, sitting up against the cold stone with his top hat over his face, and his coat wrapped around him.

Chistery grew silent as well then, and tried to come up with reasons why Elphaba and Fiyero weren't back yet. But there was only one that he could think of, and it was the one that he didn't want to happen.

'Maybe they got out, and forgot about us' thought Chistery, 'or maybe they're still looking.'

Still the nagging theory laid at the front of his mind, and would taunt him.

'No, they did not get captured. Elphaba and Fiyero are too smart for that.' But even as he thought those words, he had a horrible feeling that it was true.

He glanced again at the prisoner next to him, thinking that he was fast asleep and half whispered, "Fae, Yero, where are you?"

The other prisoner then stirred awake, and sleepily looked to Chistery. Chistery avoided eye contact hoping that he wasn't a serial killer or something like that.

"You're a flying monkey aren't you?" asked the prisoner with his voice that was old, yet charming in a old man like way.

Chistery turned to look, only because he was curious how this man knew that he was a flying monkey without wings.

"Yes, I am. But who, may I ask, are you?" said Chistery tentatively.

He studied the profile of the man's face, the small nose, warm brown eyes, graying hair, and it clicked.

"Who me?" asked the man as he sighed, "I'm just a sentimental man… who always longed to be…" He trailed off, obviously not planning to say anymore. A moment of silence passed.

"A father," finished Chistery and the man looked at him in utter surprise.

"Yes, that's me," answered The Wizard taking off his top hat to reveal himself to Chistery slowly…

Chuffrey was locked away in his rooms when he heard a commotion from the upstairs balcony overlooking the center of the Emerald City. He made his way to the only window in his room, opened it just a crack so he could hear, and listened to what was going on.

"Citizens of Oz," rang out a very familiar voice and Chuffrey recoiled knowing that it could only belong to Cherrystone, "Today is a day for our great history books. Today is the day that the truth is revealed. Except for one problem. I require a book, a book called The Grimmerie. Now every household, every man, woman, and child will be checked to see if they have this book. The one who has it and gives it up willingly will be rewarded," Cherrystone paused, and Chuffrey could hear the crowd tense up, "If you don't… well that's not important now," he laughed, a bit forced if you asked Chuffrey, "Now comes the matter at hand… the Gale Force and I would like to put rest to the rumors that the Wicked Witch Of The West, and the Scarecrow are back in Oz."

Cherrystone let a dramatic pause of silence fill the crowd, and the air around him felt many different emotions, fear, fright, angry, anxious but none that felt sorry for the Wicked Witch.

"It seems like the rumors started when she died, those some odd years ago and haven't stopped since. It's seems that since no one mourns the wicked that we can frighten our children by the wicked by making up stories about them. I have learned the truth about the Wicked Witch Of The West. And I plan to tell you all about it…"

Another pause, the crowd was literally leaning towards him now, and Cherrystone knew he had them listening to every word.

Chuffrey on the other hand, held his breath and hoped to Lurline that Cherrystone really didn't catch the Wicked Witch, or the Scarecrow for he knew that that meant death for all of them. The Witch, Scarecrow, Glinda, and himself would all be dead if this was true.

"The Wicked Witch Of The West…" said Cherrystone gleefully, "is-"


	12. Bubble Charms, and Rage

Cherrystone walked back into the Palace after his announcement, feeling quite satisfied with his work, and sat down in his office summoning Lieutenant Marsh. Marsh came very quickly and stood at attention as he waited to hear the news.

"Bring the prisoners to the Palace tonight, and tomorrow they will be executed, do you understand?" asked Cherrystone playing with the little green bottle in his hands.

Lieutenant Marsh nodded, and as quickly as he came left the room.

Cherrystone was then left to reflect on what was right before his feet, which was literally all of Oz. He was the now proclaimed ruler, taken from right under Glinda's feet, and he was now known for his work with capturing the infamous Wicked Witch of the West and her Scarecrow lover of some sorts.

"What to do, what to do," mused Cherrystone knowing that most of the Ozians would be horrified if he told them the truth about the friendship between Glinda and the Witch, and how the Scarecrow wasn't really a Scarecrow. An idea struck him, and he knew that he wouldn't be the one to tell him all of this; he would have all three of them explain it before their execution. And that left Cherrystone out of it, and he would seem like the savior of Oz.

He smiled to himself as he looked at the green bottle and engagement ring on the table in front of him, knowing that this plan was not impossible as long as the Ozians trusted him, and that they did.

Glinda, Elphaba, and Fiyero all sat in the interrogation room together which was being watched by six guards, more guards than Morrible had, and they all stared silently at the door that was bolted, locked, magicked, and blocked shut by Cherrystone. They knew that there was going to be no easy way out of this.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry to both of you. I'm sorry to Chuffrey, Boq, Nessa and-" whispered Glinda as she leaned against the back wall, a hand to her pounding head and she had her eyes closed, but she got interrupted mid sentence.

"Glinda, don't you dare start making your goodbyes yet!" snapped Elphaba as she sat leaning on Fiyero's shoulder who was next to Glinda, "I won't hear of it! None of us are going to die, please don't do that to me… to us."

Glinda opened her eyes, and lifted her head up from the wall and over to look at Elphaba.

"Fine, I'm sorry about being overly sorry but in case you haven't noticed, Elphie there is no way out of here! We can't use magic because it's magic proof somehow which I am still trying to find a loophole for, and our execution is tomorrow! There is no way out of our deaths!"

"Glin please try and relax. We'll be fine, we've done it before," Fiyero tried to comfort her but Glinda was upset, scared, and angry and instead of channeling her anger towards Cherrystone she was channeling it towards them.

"Oh, yes how could I forget? You two have, but I was not included in that little plan! No, meanwhile I went for two years thinking you both were dead only to find out by my Commander and Chistery that you weren't! So you two may have done it before but I haven't and I'm scared!" admitted Glinda, her eyes flashing in anger.

"Glinda…" started Elphaba trying to come up with the right words to comfort her friends but Glinda cut her off.

"No, just don't Elphie!"

After that all three of them remained silent for a while until Glinda broke the silence.

"Who would have thought that we would end up like this… it seems like just yesterday we hated each other at Shiz, don't you think Elphie?"

Elphaba pursed her lips, and looked at Glinda who was fidgeting with her hands in her lap, " Yes, I agree. I miss those days Glin. I really do."

"I miss being a prince," added Fiyero and he got looks from both Elphaba and Glinda.

"Do you know if your parents are still alive, maybe they can help us, Fifi!" exclaimed Glinda, suddenly excited at the thought.

Fiyero thought for a moment, "Maybe, but even if they were they think I'm dead, dear."

Elphaba then moved herself off of Fiyero, and looked at Glinda, "What about your parents, Glinda? Don't they still live in Frottica, or the Upper Uplands, or where ever you lived?"

Glinda's face became animated, and then it quickly turned solemn, "Yes, but they won't be able to make it here in time. It takes a days train to come to the Emerald City and by that time we will be dead."

"Try it, my sweet. There's no use if you don't try," encouraged Elphaba even though she knew it was hopeless as well.

Glinda obliged, casting a small pink bubble spell, and whispering in words to it, and then cast it off with a wave of her hand. It somehow flew out of the room, into the wall, and out into the city to find its way to Frottica where Mr. and Mrs. Upland lived.

"Bubble charms…" stated Elphaba with her arms crossed over her chest, and an eyebrow raised, "Really, Glin?"

"I think they're adorable," defended Glinda with a slight giggle as a blush rose to her cheeks.

"Do you still hate us?" asked Elphaba afterwards in a voice that was louder than a whisper but not at full volume.

Glinda swallowed hard, and fidgeted with the straps of her shoes that were covered in blood, and dirt, not answering her yet.

"You could have trusted me, you know. I'm not that much of an airhead that I'd go blowing that secret. You both must think that I'm really stupid, don't you just like everyone else does!" snapped Glinda.

"Glinda, we never thought you were stupid. It was just a really big secret that not many people could have known about," stated Fiyero, grabbing Elphaba's hand in his ready for another Glinda rage. As funny as it sounded, when Glinda went on a rage it was not funny. It was actually kind of scary in Fiyero's opinion.

"Yet you tell Chistery and all the monkeys that you are alive? They chatter all the time now that you taught them how to talk, how did you know that they wouldn't tell?" asked Glinda, her eyes dark and hard.

"They were there, Glin. They saw us leave, I couldn't just leave without no explanation to them!"

"May I remind you, Ms. Elphaba Thropp that I was there as well? Hiding in a corner! I saw you 'die' and never got any consolation for it! No one knew that except for you, and Chistery! I even lied to Chuffers, Morrible and The Wizard and said I was taking a bubble bath at the time of your death! You don't know how hard it is to lie to the citizens of Oz every single day, saying how wretchedly happy you are that the Wicked Witch Of The West is dead!" shouted Glinda angrily.

"Well maybe if you didn't join forced with the Wizard then I would have told you! You were too close with Morrible and the Wizard, one slip up and they would have known about us from you!" yelled Elphaba, who was getting just as angry as Glinda was.

It was about then that Fiyero decided to intervene before either woman lunged for the other's throat.

"Yelling isn't going to get us anywhere! We need to forgive each other, and move on. Come on you two, you used to be best friends. You don't want to die fake hating each other when all you have to do is forgive each other."

Both women looked at Fiyero with glaring eyes, and huffed.

"Fine," they said at the same time.

Glinda's eyes went from Fiyero to Elphaba, and then they soon clouded up with tears.

"I'm sorry, Elphie. I don't mean it, I'm just upset and scared and that's no excuse. I know you couldn't have told me even if you wanted to. I'm just glad that I know now."

Elphaba smiled at Glinda, and got up from the dusty ground to hug the blonde tightly.

"I'm glad you know now too. And I'm sorry as well… there is that better Yero?"

Fiyero laughed and grinned at two witches, "Yes, it is. Now does Fiyero get a hug?"

They all laughed at that, and even though they were making jokes and laughing there was no denying the underlining panic and fear in all of their voices that came out whenever they talked. They moved towards Fiyero and enveloped him in a two people hug, and then both women pulled away, silent.

"And now we wait?" asked Glinda, her face drained and petrified as she sat thinking about her death.

Elphaba sighed, "Yes, my sweet, and now we wait…"

Chuffrey was at the Palace pounding at a wall with his fists, shouting at the top of his lungs, "You evil man! You can't kill them! Don't you dare kill my wife and her friends!"

But he knew it was no use. Glinda would be killed, and the Witch and the Scarecrow and then Chuffrey as well.

What would the citizens of Oz do then? They couldn't really want Cherrystone as their leader, could they? They had no idea what he was capable of, and how dangerous he was.

"You can't kill them; you don't know what you are doing!" yelled Chuffrey exasperated.

He sighed hard, and leaned his forehead against the wall wondering what in Oz he could do next to save himself, his wife, and the rest of Oz from Cherrystone.

The night dragged on much too long for Chistery and The Wizard who spent the night trying to figure out ways to defeat Cherrystone and get the hell out of Southstairs.

"So they're both alive?" repeated the Wizard with a shocked tone in his voice, "Both Elphaba and Fiyero?"

Chistery nodded, and then added grimly, "But I'm afraid not for much longer. They've been captured by Cherrystone, and are going to be executed with Glinda for reasons of treason."

"Well we can't let that happen, now can we?" said the Wizard with surprising force.

Chistery nodded in agreement, "But how will we do that, we need the Grimmerie and neither of us can read it?"

At this The Wizard smiled, "My balloon isn't just good for rides Chistery…"

Meanwhile in the middle of the night somewhere in Frottica or in the Upper Uplands, Mr. and Mrs. Upland got a surprise when a little pink bubble came floating to their doorstep, into the house and right near them. It popped and gave a message to the couple from their daughter.

"Momsy, Popsicle I need your help. I'm in huge trouble with my old Commander, who has now overthrown me and taken over Oz. I face execution tomorrow and no one will listen to my side of the story. Come as fast as you can, or send a message asking to detain my death… really anything please. I love you both. Your Galinda."


	13. Never Saw It Coming

The citizens of Oz, and the Emerald City Palace servants watched in silence as the signs were hung up on the walls of buildings all around them, not wanting to express their opinions out loud.

The signs said:

Lady Glinda, The Wicked Witch Of The West, and The Scarecrow will be executed this morning at 11 o'clock sharp at Restwater right outside of the Emerald City. Lord Chuffrey will be hanged for treason at Mockbeggar Hall tomorrow at the same time. This has been the decree ordered out by our Glorious Ruler, Oz Cherrystone.

Faye stared horror-stricken at the sign that was right in front of her face. She read it over, and over again trying to figure out if she was dreaming or not.

Priscilla and Ella were at her side, reading the sign as well and they looked at her with concern.

"Do you still have that book?" whispered Ella in a low voice so that only Faye and Priscilla could hear her.

Faye nodded, a quick jerk of her head, and leaned over to Ella, "Meet me at Restwater, both of you at ten fifty and I'll bring the book. We have to save them somehow."

Both of the girls nodded, and they parted ways, Priscilla and Ella towards the Palace and Faye towards Southstairs.

After a restless night of no sleep, Elphaba moved sluggishly when a ray of morning sun came in through the one window of the interrogation room.

"Yero, Glin wake up," she chided sleepily, almost forgetting that today was their death day until it dawned on her.

They had spent most of last night coming up with escape plans, and few had turned out to be possible, but not many. It seemed like all was lost for them.

But they still had some tricks up their sleeves, and they knew that now was the time to use them.

"Glinda, wake up dearest," yawned Fiyero as he woke up, stretching his arms and wrapping one arm around Elphaba.

Glinda opened her eyes, and got up still half asleep. She rubbed her eyes, and looked around dazed.

"She was never an early riser, was she?" joked Fiyero trying to lighten the mood.

Elphaba laughed slightly, and grabbed Glinda's hand, who was now standing up in her ruined yellow dress.

"Morning, Elphie… Fifi," yawned Glinda as she squeezed Elphaba's hand, sitting down as she did so.

"She's not screaming yet," said Fiyero in a low, low voice to Elphaba who bit her lip grimly.

"Wait," interjected Elphaba, "It'll come."

Fiyero nodded, having no doubts in his mind that Glinda would soon be flipping out for she had a very good reason to. They all did, but Elphaba had some uncanny ability to withhold her emotions inside of her, and Fiyero was trying very hard to act brave. Glinda would go off though, and no one judged her.

"Do you remember everything we talked about last night?" prompted Elphaba, hoping that she would remember their plan.

Glinda's sleepy face turned immediately serious, and then a bit scared. She bit her lip with her front teeth hard and nodded.

"Yes, I do," said Glinda in a voice that was certainly not a normal Glinda type voice.

"Glin, it will be okay," reassured Fiyero with a small smile that was not convincing at all, and they all knew it.

Elphaba ran a hand through her hair, and Fiyero wrapped her closer to him.

"We should have been more careful," said Elphaba in an ashamed tone, shaking her head while curling her legs up to her chest.

"We did everything we could, Fae. Don't beat yourself up for this," Fiyero kissed her cheek, and Glinda watched silently at this exchange between them, wishing that Chuffrey were here to comfort her at a time like this.

"Will it hurt?" asked Glinda after a pause, looking at the wall in front of her.

"Glinda…" started Elphaba worriedly, "We talked about this. If we stick to the plan we won't-"

"Yes, well I'm going first! If I stick to the plan then I won't die, but what if it backfires Elphie? What will you do then?"

Elphaba and Fiyero both looked at Glinda with concerned eyes, and answered at the same time, "Save you, no matter what the cost."

Glinda stopped, and shut her mouth, looking at her two friends with tearing up eyes, "Really?" she asked, her voice squeaky and all choked up.

"Absolutely, Glinda," said Elphaba who glanced at Fiyero who nodded with a wink towards the blonde.

"I would do that for you guys as well. Make no mistake about that," added Glinda with a stern look on her face that caused all three of them to laugh.

Just then the door opened, and Glinda felt her chest tighten in fear, and she tried to breath in calm deep breaths but her panic had flooded in so quickly.

She looked to Elphaba and Fiyero who held hands, and Elphaba put out her other hand towards Glinda as if to say, don't worry everything will be all right. Glinda took her hand, squeezed it as hard as she could, feeling calmer already, and put on a brave face as she turned to look at who opened the door.

"Hm, isn't this touching?" mused a voice with false sweetness.

"Get up you three!" commanded Cherrystone stepping into the room with much authority as he could muster.

Still holding hands, they stood up bonded together by their past and ready to face the future.

Glinda stared down at Cherrystone with a harsh glare, one that she had frequently used at Shiz when she got mad at someone that she had learned from her mother, and assessed his bright red military uniform with many badges and what-its on it, and in his hand he held that damned bottle and ring.

"I would like those back if you don't mind," stated Glinda in an icy tone as she gestured to the bottle and ring,

Cherrystone held them out to her, just out of her reach mind you, tauntingly, "After you tell her what the bottle means."

Glinda had no problem deciphering what Cherrystone meant, and looked guiltily at Elphaba's extremely confused face.

"Now? It doesn't matter now, not after all these years…" stalled Glinda, coming up with a good excuse.

Cherrystone laughed at this, "Yes it does because we've captured him and we plan to fully restore him to power once you all are dead. Tell her, Glinda, now or I will."

Glinda's face morphed into an ashamed one, and she turned to Elphaba with downcast eyes.

"After your 'death' I picked up your hat, and I found your mother's green bottle… and Elphie I had only seen that bottle once before…" Glinda trailed off, her throat tight and constricted as if even her body did not want her saying these words to Elphaba, not now. She tried hard not to watch Elphaba's face, for fear of that hurt look that would appear when she told the rest of the story.

"And?" added Cherrystone gleefully, and at that moment Glinda wanted to slap that grin off of his face so hard.

"And," she paused and the rest of the sentences rambled together very fast, "It was the Wizard who offered me a drink from a little green bottle when you and Fiyero ran off without me, and you know what he used to say. He was a sentimental man… who always longed to be…"

"A father," croaked out Elphaba finishing Glinda's sentence her eyes glossy.

Glinda nodded, her eyes on the floor, "Oh Elphie I'm so-"

Cherrystone grabbed her at that point, and she was interrupted, "No time for apologizes now Glinda. Come on outside, and we will have a carriage take you all to Restwater where you will be drowned."

All three of their faces blanched, even Elphaba's who was still in shock.

"Drowned?" repeated Glinda in a hushed voice as if anyone else heard that they would drown too.

Cherrystone nodded, and roughly pushed her out of the interrogation room and into a pair of hands of the Gale Force. Elphaba and Fiyero followed suit, and soon two members of the Gale Force one for each arm were holding all of them.

"Is it just us? No more traitors to be put to death?" mocked Elphaba and Glinda gave her a look to hush, and she did.

Cherrystone laughed darkly, "Not today. Tomorrow though, Glinda dear, your beloved goes to Mockbeggar to be hung in his own hall, and there is nothing you can do to stop it so save your breath," he paused, "You'll need it for when you are halfway in Restwater…"

"I told you specifically to leave Chuffrey out of this, Cherrystone!" shouted Glinda, her eyes dark.

He just laughed, and put one hand under her chin, lifting her head up so that her eyes met his though she did everything possible not to.

"Like I would keep promises to the great Glinda the Good, friend of the Wicked Witch Of The West… you really think you have everyone wrapped around your pretty little finger, don't you? Well everyone hates you now… but I'm sure it's for the better."

Glinda stared at him, her face struggling to remain calm.

"I asked you for the bottle and ring back, Cherrystone," she reminded him once again as he had turned away from her.

He faced her still holding the items that she wanted in his hands and without a single word sent the bottle and ring crashing to the ground. He stomped his big black boots all over them, breaking the glass and ruining the ring.

They all watched wordlessly as he stepped away from the mess with relief, "Now no one will suspect me for taking those. I can say that they never existed. And once I have The Grimmerie in my hands no one will even remember your name, Glinda. I'm going to have all of Oz forget about you… and your friends so that only I can be the one who rules Oz with the great and powerful Wizard Of Oz," he said with feeling as his dark eyes bore into Glinda's.

"He's a fraud you know. You'll be bringing someone into power that has no magical abilities whatsoever. You think he's so wonderful, then you really don't know the truth Cherrystone!" hissed Elphaba looking at him.

"That may be," retorted Cherrystone after a moments pause turning from Glinda to Elphaba with a pivot of his shoes, "But I'm not the one who is being executed today am I?"

"You may as well be," hissed Elphaba heatedly taking a step towards him when the guards who held her pulled her back from him.

"Take them away, and bring Morrible with me to Restwater, I require her assistance," commanded Cherrystone without a retort to Elphaba, looking at the guard at his side.

The guard saluted him, "Yes sir, but what about the flying monkey and the Wizard and for all of the other prisoners as well? What do we do with them?"

The new ruler of Oz fell silent for a moment while the three prisoners were being taken away.

"Let them come to today's execution, let them all know that I mean business if you chose to mess with enemies. Especially Wicked witches…"

Meanwhile inside the carriage Elphaba, Fiyero and Glinda were all huddled close together in the cramped space, going over the plan once more before they faced the real thing.

"Now, Glin when I move forward before they push you into the water that's when you start chanting, do you understand? And then Fiyero and I will be invisible and you'll be…"

She left it unfinished so that Glinda would rush in with her plan but Glinda had gone silent.

"Glin… Glinda! Oz, do I have to use your old name? GALINDA!" snapped Elphaba waving her hands in front of the blonde's face; who had gone white with terror.

"It's not going to work, Elphie. It won't work… and then I'll be dead and-" sobbed Glinda breaking her silence, and started her heart-wrenching sobbing that made both Fiyero and Elphaba's heart clench with fear.

Fiyero wrapped his arms around the trembling blonde who had started hyperventilating because she was crying so hard, and tried to comfort her.

"Glinda, we promise we won't let anything happen to you. You can count on us," said Fiyero wiping away her tears with his hand.

Glinda smiled watery and sniffled, "Okay."

"Fae," said Fiyero after Glinda had stopped crying, "You don't think that they'll burn me since I'm a Scarecrow… right?"

Elphaba swallowed hard, a lump forming as she thought of Fiyero on a pole with flames all around him. She had the same feeling she got when she thought of Glinda drowning in Restwater… but there was no need for these horrific thoughts because they weren't going to die. Or at least Glinda and Fiyero weren't. Elphaba knew that Cherrystone was only after her, to kill her, and that Fiyero and Glinda were just extra pawns in his plan that he planned to dispose of.

She had promised herself that Fiyero and Glinda would get out of this all right, that way Fiyero could take Glinda to the Other World… but for herself Elphaba knew that she had to die and that Cherrystone would stop at nothing for her death.

But she had not spoken of this to Fiyero or Glinda; she didn't need to. She just hoped that it wouldn't come as such of a shock when she turned up dead and they were still alive.

"Yero, don't even worry about it, remember? Everything will be fine," reassured Elphaba giving him a kiss on the lips. He returned it, a bit more passionate than either of them had intended and he pulled away after a few more lingering moments on her lips.

She smiled up at him, and his heart melted, "I love you," he murmured.

"I love you too," she replied with another kiss.

Glinda remained silent as the couple looked at each other with adoration and she played with the wedding ring that Chuffrey gave to her. It was a quite beautiful ring Glinda would admit to that, and she really did love Chuffrey. But there was always something missing with their marriage and Glinda guessed that it was because she hadn't been honest with him, she couldn't have been. But now her whole life could be over… and she had dragged Chuffrey down with her.

Tears brimmed at the corners of her eyes, but she willed herself not to cry again. Soon their plan would be done and she, Elphaba, Fiyero, Chuffrey, Chistery, the Wizard, and maybe even Faye would be in The Other World far, far away from Cherrystone.

The carriage lurched to a stop, and they all heard the guards moving around outside of them. The door opened, and a guard motioned for them to get outside. They each exited the carriage with solemn faces being greeted by guards arm's once outside. They each were tied down with heavy ropes around their wrists, and proceeded towards the lake.

Cherrystone was somehow already there, surveying the lake's waters and he was near Madame Morrible who was chanting something, making the clouds in the sky turn dark and black with each passing moment. He caught sight of the prisoners, and made a motion to the guards holding back the crowds of Ozians, including the always loud and rambunctious Bascal and Walters, to let the crowd come closer.

"You all made it here in good time, go and put them over there with Chuffrey and that monkey thing while I get everyone settled," demanded Cherrystone turning away from them to address the crowd.

Obediently the guards moved them to the willow tree near the shore of the lake where Chuffrey and Chistery sat with guards on either side of them as well.

The ropes were not taken off their wrists but they did give them some room to sit on the banks and look out into the crashing waters.

The first thing Glinda noticed while looking at her surroundings that it was a dark and dreary day with black storm clouds on the horizon and the crumbling and high waves of the lake. She stared at the wooden dock that extended itself from the shore to half way through the lake, which was not that long, but she still got a doomed feeling every time she looked at it.

The wind blew the branches of the tree this way and that and Glinda got a chill.

"Don't worry, my love. He'll get what's coming to him," comforted Chuffrey wrapping his arms around his trembling wife while pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

She wrapped her frail arms tightly and pressed herself against him for warmth.

"I love you, Chuffers," she whispered looking into his eyes. He put a hand on her cheek, and kissed her gently, "As do I, Glin, as do I."

Meanwhile Elphaba and Fiyero were sitting together with Chistery by their side.

"I knew something was up when you guys didn't come back…but don't worry the Wizard and I have a plan," commented Chistery in a low voice making his way to Elphaba's lap. She petted him with affection, and gave him a quick smile, "We have a plan, Chistery. But yours can be the backup one if this one doesn't work. What's yours?"

Chistery leaned in close to her ear and whispered softly so that the guards couldn't hear anything.

Fiyero held Elphaba close in his arms, looking at the crowd for any familiar faces that might try and save them. He saw Faye and her friends in the right back corner of the crowd, looking anxious for something, and he saw Boq standing vigilantly in front of the crowd his eyes on Glinda. The Wizard was hidden among the crowd in the back with his balloon, which he had covered with a tarp.

A sense of doom filled Fiyero's body and he felt as if their plan wouldn't work just like Glinda had said it wouldn't, but then he looked at Elphaba who was so certain and calm and his fears melted away.

She looked beautiful to him, not a day over twenty-six or however old she was, her green skin radiated off of her like the morning sun, her hair combed nicely and black as night, and her eyes just as mysterious as usual which was what Fiyero liked.

His lips made contact with the base of her neck, but he felt her hands push him away as she tried to listen to Chistery's plan.

Fiyero just held her then, and they watched as Cherrystone got the crowd to go silent.

"Citizens of Oz, it has been a long two months or so with rumors of a certain witch and scarecrow, and their involvement with Glinda the Good. Today that will all be put to rest when they all tell their stories and the truth before they are executed. If they don't wish to speak," he laughed darkly, "Well I don't think they will. Your beloved Glinda will go first."

And with that he snapped his fingers, and two guards pulled Glinda away from Chuffrey and brought her over to the podium that had been set up with a microphone and everything.

She stared at the crowd, her throat tight and her eyes burning with the wind. Her parents weren't here and it was too late now. No more time to say goodbye, she had to tell the truth and then hope to Lurline that their plan would work.

"Fellow Ozians," started Glinda in a shaky voice as she smoothed out the wrinkles of her dress in order to calm herself, "You have heard a lot in the past few months, rumors and speculation and I just want to set the record straight. Cherrystone has made a claim that I was once friends with the Wicked Witch Of The West, and its true."

A collective gasp came from the crowd, and Glinda straightened herself up and looked at Faye while she spoke.

"We met at Shiz, Morrible should know this better than anyone of us. She's the one that put us as roommates. And I won't lie to you, no need for lying but I hated Elphaba at first. I mean we loathed each other! And then that all changed at that dance that Fiyero hosted," her expression changed to a softer one and she blushed at the thought of that night, "You see I was convinced that Fiyero and I were going to be married and I wasn't going to let anything stop me from that. I played a mean joke on Elphaba, giving her a hideodous hat that my Grandmother gave to me for Lurlinemas and she wore it to the dance that night. Everyone of course laughed at her… and I had just found out that Elphaba made Madame Morrible take me in as one of her sorcery students and I felt so horrible for making a fool out of her. And then she started to dance all by herself and I joined her. I guess you could say that that was the beginning of our friendship. Once I got to know her, I didn't care that she was green. I thought it was great that she was different and she was so willing to help others who were different like Dr. Dillamond or that lion cub they did experiments on. Then something happened between Fiyero and Elphaba, and I knew this but I was too shallow to admit to myself that I had lost Fiyero to Elphaba the minute he met her. So I cried and went with Elphaba to meet the Wizard. Yes, I know I told all of you I have never met him but I lied," she put her head down at this, tears falling now, "I lied to you a lot, and I'm so sorry. But nothing can repair what I did to Elphaba, and to Fiyero for that matter. At the Wizards we found out that he was a fraud and not a real wizard-"

The Wizard bowed his head down in shame at this for he knew that this was true, and he watched as Glinda recomposed herself and take a deep breath to begin talking again.

"And he wanted Elphaba to help him capture Animals but she wouldn't and we ran away in the Palace up the attic. That's where she asked me to come with her, to help defeat the Wizard, but I declined. I was too shallow and scared to defy the 'Wonderful Wizard Of Oz,' and she left without me."

Glinda stopped speaking now, the tears not stopping and she looked at her shoes while trying to regain what was left of her composure.

"And then I lied to all of you, calling her a Wicked Witch, which she never was! She was the kindest person that I've ever met, and when I heard that Madame Morrible caused that cyclone that killed Nessarose I went to go warn Elphaba, my best friend, The Wicked Witch Of The West that they were going to kill her. We said our goodbyes and I watched as she melted. Yes, I will not deny that now I was there at Kiamo Ko the night she died. I was not at home with Chuffrey taking a bath. So go on, scream for my death but I've changed since then. I'm not that shallow blonde from Shiz anymore, and I have her and Fiyero to thank for that," she concluded with a small, brave smile.

The crowd was silent, and Glinda wished that someone would say something just to break the unbearable silence.

"Very touching, Glinda I bet you spent weeks on that little speech, so without further delay…. GUARDS!" yelled Cherrystone, watching Glinda's face go white. She wished that someone besides Cherrystone had spoken then, and she swallowed hard.

Guards came and grabbed her arms roughly and then began to push her forward onto the long dock that went all the way out into the deep part of the lake; which was not that far into it.

Glinda could smell the water, and she watched as the storm clouds crashed with thunder and lightening, making the waves even more active than before like a whirlpool. They finally got the edge of the wooden dock, and Glinda was told to take off her shoes, exposing her bare feet, which they bounded with tight ropes around her ankles. They also gagged her mouth with a cloth, and Glinda stood on the very edge of the dock looking back at Elphaba waiting for the signal, her heart racing in her chest.

"WAIT! WAIT PLEASE!" screamed out a woman's shrill voice coming from the far back of the crowd.

All of them turned to see who was making their way past the crowd, and Lurline behold it was Larena Upland and her husband Highmuster Arduenna.

Larena made her way pushing past the other Ozians, holding her husband's hand, who traveled behind her his face grave.

Glinda couldn't have felt more relieved seeing her parents, and was hopeful that maybe they didn't have to go through with the plan after all.

"Galinda, honey we got your bubble! We came as fast as we could, and we plead with you Cherrystone, Your Ozness to let our daughter go free. She has done no wrong, please!" begged Larena her crystal blue eyes swimming with tears at the thought of losing her only child.

Highmuster Arduenna looking as stern as ever in his black suit, hugged his wife to his chest and bore his coal black eyes into Cherrystone's without so much as saying a word but he could kill with such a look.

Larena waited for Cherrystone to say something, meanwhile trying to keep her flying blonde hair intact while the wind whipped it around, looking at her little girl the entire time.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Arduenna, and Mr. Arduenna but that is not possible," said Cherrystone with no remorse in his face as he snapped his fingers to the guards.

Glinda, caught off guard by her parents, didn't even realize that they had pushed her off the dock and into the water until it was too late.

She had never saw it coming.

"GLINDA, NO!" screamed Elphaba, standing up horrified as the whole crowd grew rigid with shock.

Glinda landed in the swirling and dangerous waters with a splash, and Elphaba and Fiyero could tell that she had not started chanting.

Lightening struck the waters where the blonde had landed in, and Elphaba started sobbing into Fiyero's chest. Larena did the same, crying into her husband, all the while he remained stoic, but Faye could swear she saw a tear fall from his face.

A hushed silence fell over the crowd, and everyone waited in fear for the worst to come.

Elphaba and Fiyero exchanged horrified glances as they realized that their worst fears had come true.

There was no way Glinda would survive that if she didn't chant the spell, and she hadn't.

Glinda would be dead in a matter of minutes…


	14. Conditions and Waiting

Beneath the crashing waves of Restwater, Glinda the Good was sinking down faster than she had anticipated. It didn't help that it still hadn't dawned on her what happened until she tried to take in a breath only to suck in wet cloth and rushing water into her lungs. Then her lungs ached for air, and she franticly tried to get free of her ropes to swim up to the surface. All around her the dark, murky waters swirled around her like a trap and Glinda chanted the spell in her head, knowing that chanting out loud was a first way ticket to drowning.

Glinda just hoped that the spell would work…. It had never failed on her before but there was always a time for firsts.

On the shore the crowd remained hushed only to be disrupted by Elphaba and Larena's crying. For both of the women they were waiting for that blonde head to resurface from the waters with a big old smile on her face, laughing and saying, "Gotcha!" like nothing horrible had happened.

But they both knew that there was a very slim chance of that even happening.

Elphaba stood on the shore, shocked to her core with Fiyero's arm wrapped around her.

"Fae, we have to act now," whispered Fiyero in a hollow voice, "We won't get another chance like this now that everyone is distracted. Say the spell."

Elphaba looked at her, her face and eyes haunted behind words that she was yearning to scream at him. How dare he say that to her when she just saw her best friend thrown off the dock and into the water beneath it? But as Elphaba looked more closely at Fiyero, she could see that he was just as petrified and as mad as she was.

Elphaba, under her breath, muttered the invisible spell softly and soon she and Fiyero were invisible. With everyone's eyes still on where Glinda had last been seen, even the guards who were supposed to be watching them for they had moved towards the dock in order to see better, Elphaba whispered in Chistery and Chuffrey's ears that she was going to turn them invisible as well.

After Elphaba chanted the spell, Chuffrey and Chistery were all invisible and they linked arms with Elphaba and Fiyero and followed them wordlessly to the back of the crowd where the Wizard waited for them.

"Here," whispered Chistery in the Wizard's ear just loud enough so that he could hear him.

The Wizard then uncovered the tarp, setting up his hot air balloon once more.

Two guards came over looking suspicious as he set up his balloon.

"Sir what are you- oh Your Ozness, we had no idea that that was you. We are terribly sorry for bothering you," stammered one of them as soon as he took a good look at the Wizard's face, "It's just that we thought you went back to Kanzis or wherever you lived?"

The Wizard laughed, "I went back home yes. But then one day I found myself flying high over a mountain range and then ending back here somehow… Quite mysterious like it was a change in the weather that brought me here…"

He smiled at them as they walked away afterwards, and had his balloon all ready to go.

He opened up the door to the basket and he let it stay like that while Elphaba, Fiyero, Chistery and Chuffrey got in. Faye's eyes caught the strange sight and she made her way past the stunned crowd over to the Wizard, recognizing immediately.

"Your Ozness," she said softly her eyes on the opened door of the basket, "I have something that might help," and with that she took out the Grimmerie from underneath her cloak and showed it to him.

Before he could say anything, or even grasp at the book guards came over swiftly and snatched the book from Faye's hands.

Then they grabbed her, and dragged her over to Cherrystone who was watching the waves of Restwater for any signs of Glinda being alive, but none showed up. His gaze was averted from the water when he saw the guards moving towards him and he noticed that something was wrong, very wrong.

"Where are they?" he asked, in a huff of a breath looking at the willow tree where his other prisoners had been just minutes ago, "Where the hell are they?"

The guards looked confused and followed his gaze to the empty willow tree, why even the gags and ropes were gone.

"No one leaves the area, do you understand?" bellowed Cherrystone, the color in his cheeks rising as he had been so easily distracted.

Meanwhile the guards brought his attention to Faye and the book that they had confiscated from her.

"Your Ozness, you may want to look at this," said one of the guards holding The Grimmerie out to Cherrystone.

It caught Cherrystone's eye and as soon as he saw it an evil smile grew on his face with pleasure.

"Give that to me," he snapped taking the book in one swift motion from his hand. His hand traced over the letters gingerly like it would break if he whipped it open.

Faye snarled at him, angry that she had been caught and that Cherrystone had just killed Lady Glinda.

"You don't know how to read it, only Elphaba does and she's gone now. Far, far away from you," she hissed feeling quite satisfied until she saw that Cherrystone's expression had not changed.

"You stupid girl, you think that her mother was the only Ozian the Wizard had implications with! No, my mother was once wooed by the great and powerful Wizard of Oz too, and I am a child of both worlds… just like Elphaba," said Cherrystone looking at the Wizard who had gone sheer white.

Then Cherrystone pulled something out of his back pocket, and held it up for everyone to see. It was a little green bottle, just like Elphaba's had been.

"I can read the Grimmerie just as well as she can, if not better. Bound her and throw her in the water with Glinda, let's see how long the little pretty will last," mused Cherrystone as he snapped his fingers once more.

"No, don't kill her. You want me, I know you do," said a voice that seemed to be coming from nowhere.

It was Elphaba's voice, there was no doubt about that but no one could see where she was. Fiyero shook his head at her to shut up, but she pushed him away knowing what she had to do.

"You knew it was me who would have to die all along, don't try and stop me now, Yero. I love you too much for that to happen, go on with the Wizard, Chistery and Chuffrey. Glinda and I will see you soon, I promise," she murmured to Fiyero kissing him gently and then lifting the spell to reveal herself.

A gasp escaped from the crowd, and Elphaba controlled herself not to roll her eyes at their frightened expressions.

"Oh please, haven't you grown up by now from that childish fear of me?" sneered Elphaba a bit sarcastically as she walked right up to Cherrystone.

"The Wicked Witch has decided to directly deal with me herself instead of hiding behind her friends," mused Cherrystone

"I did not hide behind Glinda, I would never to do that to her," defended Elphaba fiercely.

"Then I can imagine that you'll want to throw yourself off of the deck without any help then," suggested Cherrystone cradling the Grimmerie to his chest.

Elphaba gave him a long and piercing look, and then nodded.

"On one condition," she said holding up a hand, "You let Fiyero, Chuffrey and Chistery go free, do you understand? I want them to leave here before I go in that water. So," she stepped towards Cherrystone, "do we have a deal?"

He cracked a small grin, "Of course, Elphaba."

Elphaba watched, and so did Cherrystone as the Wizard got in to his balloon, and was about to take off when-

"Wait, take Faye with you," suggested Elphaba looking at the trembling girl who was still being held back by the Gale Force, "She deserves to be safe."

And just like that they released her, and she ran as fast as she could towards the balloon and got in.

Then Elphaba watched, as the balloon took off from the ground, and high into the sky far, far away from Restwater.

As soon as it was out of sight, she turned towards the dock taking a deep breath as she did so, and started walking on it.

"When did you know?" asked Elphaba suddenly turning around towards Cherrystone, "When did you know that he was your father?"

He grew tensed at this, "My mother told me, before she died and she knew that there were others. She had heard about you when she was pregnant with me, and she heard about the Miracle Elixir… it didn't take us too long to figure it all out."

"It doesn't have to be this way, Cherrystone," said Elphaba gently; "You don't have to take your anger out on the world just because your father was a fraud. Be thankful you're not green and move on."

To her statement she saw no expression changes and she sighed, defeated and made her way to the edge of the dock.

The wind picked up, thanks to Morrible, and the lightening grew more intense and thunder roared all around them.

She sneaked a glance back at Glinda's parents, who were still crying for their lost daughter, Boq who looked extremely guilty as he stared fixated at the spot where he last saw Glinda, and lastly she peered up into the sky where she could faintly see the outline of the Wizard's balloon.

She faced the waters again, took a deep breath and plunged into the water instantly.

She could just hear Cherrystone now making some joke of how she would be melting while she drowned, and she closed her eyes waiting for death.

That is… until someone placed their hand on her, pulling her towards the surface and she opened her eyes wide in shock.

In her haze of confusion she could have sworn she saw a pink bubble right near her…


	15. Confusion

Inside the Wizard's balloon Fiyero was going out of his mind.

"That's it!" he shouted standing up, rocking the basket, "We're turning back around and killing Cherrystone!"

"No, we're not, we have to be smart about this," retorted the Wizard.

"But-"

"Now listen Fiyero I want to go back as much as you do to save Glinda and Elphaba, but that's not the way to go about it. Trust me I've tried! We need to get away first," spoke up Chuffrey who looked lost and haunted without Glinda at his side.

"He's right," spoke up Faye solemnly. Everyone turned around to look at her, and Fiyero pursed his lips tightly.

"Faye you don't understand!" snapped Fiyero, his face outraged, "I will not just leave Fae like that!"

He sighed deeply, racking his brains trying not to burst at the seams. Faye stared at him, her eyes narrowed, "I don't want to lose anyone else as well but we need to save ourselves before we save them; don't you agree?"

Her tone was cold, and Fiyero seemed to snap out of his mental state enough to agree with her.

"Where to?" asked the Wizard gravely.

"Kiamo Ko," said Fiyero looking back down at the ground that was down below to keep his tears for Elphaba a secret from everyone else.

Meanwhile in the depths of Restwater Elphaba Thropp was unconscious and maybe even a bit delirious because of her horrific fear of water. But it was better that way because in her unconscious state everything was okay… everything was the way it should have been….

"Elphie, come on, come on we have to go see the Wizard now for our meeting," sang out Glinda in her blue ball-gown extending her hand out to Elphaba's green one, who stood in her infamous black spider webbed dress.

Elphaba took her hand, and smiled. Both women then walked down the halls of Kiamo Ko to the entrance where Fiyero, who was a dazzling Captain of the Guard (human of course) was waiting for them.

Fiyero kissed Elphaba on the lips, and Glinda on the cheek.

Then the door creaked open and a voice interrupted their small chat.

" Mr. and Mrs. Tiggular and Ms. Upland, here is Our Glorious Wizard," announced a guard who stepped aside as a small old man with a black top hat walked in.

"Sir, how is everything going in the Emerald City?" asked Elphaba smiling and shaking hands with the man.

"Just wonderful, my dear. Just wonderful indeed; my dear. The public really does love you and Fiyero as its favorite couple. And you as well, Glinda, as the bubbly Good Witch who works alongside their favorite couple! People in the Emerald City are just delighted!" answered the Wizard with a gracious smile.

Elphaba caught eyes with Glinda who was mouthing something to her from across the room in her dazzling gown.

"Wake up, Elphie, please wake up!"

Glinda's voice grew louder, and Elphaba looked to Fiyero and the Wizard but they remained un-phased by Glinda's screaming.

Then Kiamo Ko dissolved and scenes as well as faces began to appear. Fiyero kissing her, Glinda being pushed into the water, Cherrystone glaring at her, Dorothy throwing the water on her, her days of loneliness while she was a fugitive, her days at Shiz, Galinda giving her a makeover, playing with Nessa as a child, Frex her stern father, and lastly her mother, Melena.

All of these scenes and faces suddenly became blurs and all the while Elphaba could still hear Glinda yelling and screaming.

Suddenly Elphaba couldn't hear Glinda anymore, and her body felt light, like she was floating on air. She started to drift away slowly, glad to be rid of the pain and confusion. Then there was a blinding stab of pain near her heart, and Elphaba regained consciousness…

Elphaba sat up from the wet ground, gasping and heaving for air all the while coughing.

Her lungs were racked with pains as she forced air into them, and she coughed up a lot of water. Glinda was right besides her the whole time, holding her hand and murmuring comforting words to her. Glinda didn't know if her friend was fully 'here' or not but she was just happy that she was awake.

Finally Elphaba stopped coughing and began to breathe normally. Glinda helped her lay back down on the cool grass of the other side of Restwater.

"Glin-Glinda," whispered Elphaba hoarsely, her eyes closing in exhaustion.

"Shh, Elphie. Just rest for now, I won't leave you. Go to sleep now," commanded Glinda softly and Elphaba obeyed within seconds, falling fast asleep.

Cherrystone sat in his chair at the Palace musing at how well his plan had gone with a few minor details gone wrong. Elphaba and Glinda were dead, while Fiyero, The Wizard, Chuffrey and Faye were still alive. But that was no problem. He would have them hunted down and killed in a matter of days. The problem was how to get rid of Madame Morrible who had become increasingly giddy and power hungry since Elphaba and Glinda died. Cherrystone figured it was because she assumed that she would become the next Wizard or Witch of Oz.

But he would never let that happen. Not in a million years.

Cherrystone got pulled out of his thoughts by one of his soldiers coming in to the his room, "Mr. and Mrs. Upland request to and I quote sir, 'spit in your face and to get rid of you as fast as they can for killing Glinda.'" The boy paused, "Would you like them to come in anyways?"

Cherrystone laughed heartily like it was a joke, "Yes, yes let them in!"

The boy nodded and opened the doors to reveal a very distraught Larena and Highmuster Arduenna. Larena couldn't stop the tears from pouring down her face, and Highmuster looked like he wanted to rip out Cherrystone's throat.

"What can I do for you, Mr. and Mrs. Upland?" asked Cherrystone bored with all of the tears and crying nonsense.

"We would like to… have a proper burial for our precious Galinda and her friend Elphaba," croaked out Larena trying to stop the tears.

Cherrystone sighed heavily, "Fine, invite who you want to this… thing."

"One more thing Cherrystone," spoke up Highmuster in a low, commanding voice, "We want their bodies recovered for this, we will not settle for an empty casket."

"You can't be serious," moaned Cherrystone, "We had them die down there for a reason. Absolutely not."

Then in a sudden he was staring at long blonde hair, and a very furious Larena who gripped Cherrystone's face with her piercing nails in distraught and command.

"You listen to me, Cherrystone! You have just killed our little girl, and you now refuse to give us her body? I won't allow it! Go get her and Elphaba now!" Larena's voice was emotional but in an eerie way quite calm. Her face was stern, only her eyes contained her despair. Cherrystone now understood where Glinda had gotten her glares and eye rolls from, Larena. He had always thought it was from Highmuster, but he had been wrong.

Cherrystone stared blankly into Larena's pale, tear-stained face, "If the sea animals haven't already gotten to them, then fine we will fish them out."

At this Larena literally had to pull her nails out of Cherrystone's flesh, and stepped back and just looked at him for a moment, not saying anything.

Cherrystone stared back as cold as Larena did, and then she turned away with her husband's arms around her within seconds.

The soldier then came back into the room, "Is it true, sir? Should I send my team to Restwater?"

Cherrystone swallowed hard, and thought for a moment.

"Yes," he answered, "Go to Restwater. I want to see for myself that they are good and dead."

"You don't believe that they are, sir?" questioned the boy curiously.

"I want to be sure," muttered Cherrystone as he stared at his own green bottle that was on the table in front of him.


	16. Escaping and Finding

Elphaba opened her eyes fully once she regained consciousness since the last time she had woken. The first thing she saw was a mass of bubbly curly blonde hair that she was so familiar with.

"Glinda?" she stammered leaning on her elbow and trying to get a better glance at the face that was attached to that infamous hair.

The Good Witch turned her head away from the dark clouds and storm that was approaching and looked at Elphaba. Relief flooded her features.

"Oh, Elphie thank goodness you're awake again!" She hugged Elphaba tightly.

"How are you feeling?" she continued once she let go and examined Elphaba with her hands on her hips.

"Alright," admitted Elphaba, "but I barely remember anything after I drowned…" Elphaba paused and then her eyes grew wide as she registered the fact that Glinda was right in front in her and not dead, " How are you- I mean why aren't you dead and-"

Glinda laughed slightly and shushed Elphaba.

"You know those bubble charms that you thought were useless?" she remarked with an edge to her voice.

Elphaba nodded, dimly remembering the time in Southstairs that she called Glinda's bubble charms stupid.

"Well," said Glinda with a smile, "Turns out they are not all that useless after all!"

Elphaba managed to smile at that, "So that's why I saw pink coming towards me in the water."

Glinda laughed and so did Elphaba, "That was me!" exclaimed Glinda with a girlish tone.

Then both women got very quiet and stared at each other while sitting on the green grass of some part of Oz.

"Do you remember anything else?" asked Glinda then, her blue eyes staring deeply into Elphaba's.

"No," answered Elphaba with a sigh.

"Don't worry you will," reassured Glinda with a small smile, putting one hand on top of Elphaba's hand.

Smiling tightly, Elphaba then lay back down in the grass and closed her eyes for a moment trying to remember things that had just happened. She could hear Glinda snickering in the background.

"What is so funny?" asked Elphaba tartly with her eyes still closed.

"I thought that you had left for a moment! You blend in with the grass," Glinda was now trying very hard to suppress her giggles, but she couldn't help but let a few out.

Elphaba opened her eyes only to glare at Glinda, "Very cute, like I haven't heard that one before."

Glinda immediately stopped laughing and grew serious, her lips pressed together tightly.

"Sorry," she said quietly, "I guess I just needed something to laugh at. You know that laughter is the best medicine there is."

Elphaba thought that Glinda sounded like some old, ghastly therapist and she narrowed her eyes at her.

"Since when did you learn words of wisdom?"

Glinda smiled a bit, showing the front row of her teeth, "From my speeches that were written for me by other people, who were probably therapists and geniuses. I got all the credit though…"

"Yes you did," said Elphaba, a bit angrily. It did not go un-noticed by Glinda.

"You deserved more credit, Elphie. I knew that but I was too shallow and self absorbed to do anything about it. I was also in too deep with the Wizard and Morrible to do something that brave, you know that!" snapped Glinda. She ran a hand through her curls while she sat thinking.

In the meantime, Elphaba sat up fully and took in Glinda and her own appearance. Both of them were soaked to the bone in their dresses. The wet fabric of their dresses clung to their bodies and were unmoved by the strongest of winds. Glinda's hair was a bit frazzled while still managing to look as pretty as ever. Elphaba on the other hand didn't even want to look at her own hair, knowing that it was a disaster site.

The landscape around them was green, all green grass with some hills in the background but nothing more than that.

"Glin where are we?" asked Elphaba after a while of thought.

"Near Haugaard's Keep if my geography is right. We are just south of Restwater and near the Yellow Brick Road," replied Glinda.

Elphaba nodded, "So what do we do now?"

Glinda bit her lip, thinking. "I don't know. We're supposed to be dead so that doesn't give us a lot of options."

Then her eyes twinkled and she smiled at Elphaba.

"What is it, Glinda?" asked Elphaba puzzlement in her features.

"I know where we can go," answered the Good Witch and at the same time, thunder rumbled.

"Well you better get us there fast before this storm hits," commented Elphaba standing up. Glinda followed suit and looked at Elphaba for a moment.

"You promise that this time you won't really melt if the water touches you? Promise me that those two times weren't just flukes."

She was serious, deadly serious.

"I promise," said Elphaba earnestly and with that Glinda summoned up a bubble charm to take them where they needed to go.

Cherrystone stood at the shores of Restwater with his arms crossed over his chest very tightly.

"Search again," spat through his lips as his commanding officer came up to him with very bad news.

"But sir," stammered the commanding officer, "we've already looked twice. They are not in the waters."

"Search again," repeated Cherrystone his eyes cold and dark, "Slice open the sea animals for all I care! They have to be in there!"

He looked back at Larena and Highmuster Arduenna who held each other close near the edge of the cliff up above, and then he turned his attention to his officer.

"Let me know if you find them," he mumbled as he began his ascend to where Larena and Highmuster Arduenna were.

Larena saw him approach first, and she turned to him. Her blonde hair flying as the winds picked up and yet she was still concealed from most of it because she was wrapped in her husband's arms.

"Well?" Her voice was on the edge of hysteria.

Cherrystone looked at her, then at her husband.

They looked desperate, tired, and yet still very determined. He didn't understand them. Why couldn't they just let it go? If he were dead, he'd bet that his own mother wouldn't even care. So why did the Uplands and Fiyero for that matter care for much? Even as he asked himself Cherrystone already knew the answer: love. He himself had never really experienced love, especially not parental love. His mother was working all the time, and his father abandoned them long ago. He never got love, and why should the Uplands get consolation when he never did?

"We haven't found them yet," answered Cherrystone in the coldest voice he could muster and then he walked away from them, leaving them to their grief.

About halfway down the cliff, Cherrystone saw one of his soldiers running towards him as the clouds darkened and lighting snapped from the sky.

"Sir!" called the soldier and then he finally got to where Cherrystone was.

"Sir," he repeated catching his breath, "They've been spotted near the Yellow Brick Road in one of Glinda's bubbles. But no one thinks they will get anywhere in this storm. They'll be killed by the lighting."

Cherrystone grinned, this day just kept getting better and better, "Send a troop out to Munchkinland, and have them go out when the storm lets up."

There was no way that Cherrystone was going to let them escape that easily….


	17. Truth and Worry

"Glinda, are you sure that we are safe in this bubble with this storm on the way?" yelled Elphaba as the winds picked up nearly sending the pink bubble into some dangerous swaying trees.

Glinda glanced at the other woman in the bubble with her, and smiled tightly.

"Course we are. I think I can get us safely to Mockbeggar Hall Elphie!"

"Mockbeggar Hall? You mean Chuffrey's place? But Glinda that's-" Elphaba was interrupted by a snap of lighting that caught the tree in front of them and Glinda had to swerve hard to the left, sending both of them into the bubble's side. The rain poured down harder and thunder rumbled all around them.

"Do you trust me?" yelled Glinda looking at Elphaba very seriously. Elphaba, for once was at a loss for words. Her mouth hung open and after a moment of standing still she whispered, "Yes."

Glinda nodded, a determined look on her face as she guided the bubble to a beautiful old off-white mansion covered in aged vines.

"Then here we are," said Glinda as she brought both of them to the ground, the bubble popping as soon as they were on the grass.

"Mockbeggar Hall."

The rain soon hit them as the bubble popped and Elphaba noticed that Glinda was staring at her.

"What, Glin?" asked Elphaba and Glinda just smiled wistfully at her.

"I missed you, that's all." And she crossed her arms across her chest, looking down.

Glinda paused and then continued, "It's been two years now since you melted. Two years since Dorothy came to Oz…"

"Let's talk about it later, okay? All of this rain is making me have flashbacks…" Elphaba shuddered and grabbed Glinda's hand. Together they walked towards Mockbeggar Hall. Once inside, Glinda immediately started a fire in the grand cream marble fireplace. She muttered an incantation under her breath, and a fire blazed in the fireplace. Glinda smiled at her accomplishment and kept on smiling until she saw Elphaba's face as she sat huddled in a armchair in the corner of the room.

"What is it, Elphie?" Glinda's voice was small, tired and yet still somehow bright and cheerful as usual.

"Just thinking," answered Elphaba, hollowed. Glinda leaned forward a bit to look at her friend's face; which had emotion vacant from it.

"About?" prompted Glinda and when Elphaba didn't answer, she found that she knew the answer to her own question.

"Fiyero," she said softly out loud inside of in her head.

Elphaba gave a quick jerk of her head as an answer and Glinda sat down gracefully in the chair next to her.

"We're safe here, don't you think?" uttered Glinda after a moment of silence just listening to the pounding rain and crackling thunder that was erupting outside.

"Sure. We're safer than the rest of them are," mumbled Elphaba.

Glinda knew that she was talking about Faye, Chuffrey, The Wizard and Chistery. And Fiyero of course.

"Elphie, I'm sure they're fine," reassured Glinda even though she could not be that sure with Cherrystone in the way.

"You always say that, Glinda."

"What is with you, Elphaba Thropp?" seethed Glinda tired of Elphaba's blunt emotionless answers, "We're best friends. We tell each other everything." Glinda stopped, remembering the night of the OzDust dance that she and Elphaba spent the whole night telling each other their deepest and darkest secrets.

Elphaba took a moment to answer.

"I'm scared, okay!" snapped Elphaba.

Glinda's face softened and she looked down at her lap, hands folded.

"I am too, you know," said Glinda, "It's not everyday you're running away from people who want to-" Glinda stopped herself mid-sentence knowing that her statement was false in Elphaba's case. She had been running away from people who wanted to kill her ever since that one short day in the Emerald City.

"Well it looks like we're going to be here for a while, Elphie. I don't see this storm letting up anytime soon," commented Glinda afterwards looking at the ferocious dark gray, almost black sky and strips of lightning scattering across it.

"Guess we have Horrible Morrible to thank for that," remarked Elphaba dryly. For some unknown reason that comment made Glinda laugh and soon Elphaba laughed as well.

"Her specialty was always weather," laughed Glinda.

Elphaba smiled at Glinda, a real true smile and they hugged each other tightly.

"You're right, Glinda," said Elphaba softly, "We really are best friends."

"I've had so many friends, but you're the only one that is my best friend," admitted Glinda after they let go of each other.

"You're my only friend. Ever. You know that," said Elphaba with a sigh.

Glinda could tell that she was thinking about Fiyero and everyone else.

"After this storm clears, the first thing we'll do is find out where they are. I promise you," swore Glinda grabbing Elphaba's hand with hers and squeezing it lightly.

"I believe you," said Elphaba and Glinda knew that she was telling the truth.

Kiamo Ko was in Fiyero's sights, he could see it now. Not too far in the distance beyond the towering mountaintops was the castle that his family had rarely used. Of course they used the other castle on the opposite side of the Vinkus. The dark colored granite was illuminated by the snaps of lightning as the storm raged on, and soon the Wizard's hot air balloon touched the ground.

Faye looked out at the castle with interest. Fiyero and Elphaba had hid out in this castle for many years but Faye didn't think that it was the safest place for them to return to.

The rain poured down hard, and everyone was already soaked to the bone. Together in a huddle, they disassembled the hot air balloon and entered the cold dark castle of the Tiggulars.

The damp walls of the castle were exactly as Elphaba and Fiyero had left it. Shadows were cast from every which way because of the lightning and Faye felt Fiyero take her hand in his for protection. She smiled at the gesture and Fiyero noticed.

"What?" he asked, puzzled.

Faye smiled wider at his confusion.

"Did you grab my hand because you think I'm scared?"

Fiyero's smile wavered, "Um, maybe. Force of habit sorry."

Faye laughed, "No, I think it's sweet. No one has ever done that for me before. Except for-"

Faye stopped herself, not allowing her mouth to form the words, Lady Glinda. She knew that it would hurt too much. She couldn't believe that she and Elphaba were dead. It didn't seem possible.

Fiyero noticed her expression change and he wrapped an arm around her fatherly, "You're thinking about them, aren't you?"

Faye nodded and watched as Chistery bounded up the stone stairs to Elphaba's solar room, and she watched as The Wizard and Chuffrey were trying and failing at making tea for them all in the kitchen.

"Don't worry," said Fiyero and Faye could not tell if he was saying this to himself or to her, "They'll be just fine. They're both witches for Oz's sake, and damn good ones at that. The Wizard wanted to hire both of them at one point, so they must have some magical powers that are worth having."

But even as he reassured her and himself, Faye could tell that Fiyero was worried. He was past worried and was going off of pure fool's hope. But at this point they all needed something to keep them going even if it was false or not.

Soon they were all huddled around the old fireplace with a dimly lit fire burning. Faye, Fiyero, the Wizard, and Chuffrey all had thin blankets around them, and were eating some left over old soup. As soon as Fiyero had found out that the storm cleared somewhat, he sent Chistery out to get some news on what was happening.

"So what are we doing next?" piped up Faye during dinner, eager to do something instead of sit in the old castle for days on end.

All of the adults looked from one person to the other at the same time.

"Well Faye, there's nothing we really can do for the time-" started Chuffrey when there was banging at the door.

Fiyero jumped up, and motioned for everyone else to be quiet as he made his way to the front door. He opened it slowly, peeking out trying to see whom it was.

The silhouettes of Priscilla and Ella greeted him, and Faye piped up who was behind Fiyero.

"Priscilla! Ella! What are you doing here?"

Priscilla and Ella took off their hoods and their features were revealed.

"We got word from Chistery that you were here and we need to tell you something," said Ella.

"What is it?" asked Fiyero, his face paling.

"Elphaba and Glinda are," Ella paused, "alive. They've been spotted near the Munchkinland near Mockbeggar Hall."


	18. Leaving and Promising

"They're what?" exclaimed Fiyero after letting in Priscilla and Ella so that they were not standing in the pouring rain.

"They're alive and Cherrystone has gone ballistic about finding them," said Ella.

"But that still doesn't explain why you're in the Vinkus?" said Faye with curiosity.

"When Cherrystone found out that they were alive, he fired everyone at the Palace and had guards escort us somewhere. We ran away and came across Chistery and then we came here," said Priscilla.

"But how?" sputtered out Fiyero, still on the subject of Elphaba and Glinda's survival, and he was trying to process all of this. It wasn't like he had closed his eyes or something. He had seen Glinda not come back up from the deathly waters and neither had Elphaba. So how were they alive?

"How was what?" asked Priscilla, her eyebrows furrowing.

"How are they alive?" piped up Chuffrey looking just as shocked as Fiyero with his mouth hanging open. The Wizard had now joined in as well.

"They were drowned, they're not supposed to be-"

Both Ella and Priscilla shrugged their shoulders.

"We have no idea."

Fiyero sighed and ran a hand through his hair, while Chuffrey stoked at his beard impatiently. The Wizard pondered over the possibilities and Faye was the only one who wasn't thinking.

"This is great!" exclaimed Faye, "Now all of us can go the Munchkinland and we can meet up with Elphaba and Glinda and we can take down Cherrystone!"

"No," declared all three of the men in the castle harshly and Faye shrunk back at the tone.

"No… but I thought-" started Faye.

"You three will stay here. It's too dangerous for three girls like you to be involved in this," explained Chuffrey.

Faye now turned to Fiyero and stared right through him, "You nor Elphaba thought it was too dangerous when I helped both of you find Glinda at Southstairs," she reminded him coldly.

Fiyero didn't meet her eyes, and stared at the ground trying to think.

"Elphaba would know what to do," he muttered to himself and then he cursed.

As Fiyero looked at Faye, Priscilla and Ella; he was suddenly reminded of his times at Shiz. All three of these girls reminded him of Elphaba, Glinda, and Nessa. And they were now (or was in Nessa's case) the three most powerful witches in all of Oz.

"Can you please just stay here and wait for Chistery to come back? Please. Then we'll come back here soon and then you can come with us," said Fiyero decidedly.

Faye crossed her arms, and so did Ella and Priscilla.

"Fine," said all three girls at the same time.

Relief flooded into the three men and they seemed to relax now.

"All right then, let's get packing," said Fiyero and so they did.

"So Elphie, where were you after all of these years? You were obviously hiding, but where?" Ix? The Impassable Desert?" asked Glinda as the storm raged on and both women were stuck in Mockbeggar Hall.

"We were actually in The Other World," admitted Elphaba and that got a gasp out of Glinda.

"Really?" she squealed like she was her seventeen-year old self again.

Elphaba smirked, "Yes really. We actually lived in Kansas for a while. But then somehow we got called back to Oz, and we hid everywhere we could. Luckily I had perfected my invisibility spell so that helped out a lot. From there we did live in Ix and the Impassable Desert, and also in the Vinkus. We stayed in the Other World for a year, and then back in Oz for a year."

Glinda looked very impressed and interested but before she could say anything Elphaba changed the subject on her.

"Who's that?" she asked, pointing to a portrait on the wall. For the past few hours they had been exploring aimlessly through the mansion with Glinda telling Elphaba about certain things and knickknacks.

"That's me, silly!" said Glinda with a laugh looking at the young blonde in the portrait, "That was just after I had gotten married to Chuffrey. His parents put this up for him as a wedding present."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously?"

Glinda blushed, "Yes, seriously. It's a custom in Gillikin."

Elphaba tilted her head to one side, letting her hair fall slowly in that direction and she smirked.

"Well they got your hair right, and your eyes. But I hardly believe that you were that skinny, Glinda."

It was true, a huge mass of blonde curls was on portrait Glinda's hair, and her cerulean blue eyes stood out. And maybe the artist had made her a tad bit tinier, just for the painting's sake.

"I don't know what you're talking about," dismissed Glinda, but then she laughed. So the two women were in a fit of laughs, and it subsided after a while.

They moved down the dark hallway, the only light was coming from Glinda's lantern that she had enchanted.

"Oh," exclaimed Glinda suddenly, "I have something to show you!"

Grabbing the green woman's hand Glinda tugged Elphaba back down the hallway and into Glinda's room in the mansion. Setting down the lantern, Glinda rummaged through her closet looking for something of importance.

"I hope that you're not trying to change my fashion style now, Glin because I think it's a lost cause at this point," called out Elphaba, wondering what in the world Glinda could be getting now.

"Aha!" came out Glinda's muffled reply and she found her way out of her closet in the dark and brought something over to Elphaba.

Warily, Elphaba looked at her. Glinda looked excited, and Elphaba repressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"Okay… ready?" asked Glinda bouncing up and down slightly.

Elphaba nodded, although she was positive that she was not ready for whatever Glinda was planning to show her.

Then Glinda showed her what was behind her back.

"My hat!" exclaimed Elphaba with joy as she took it from Glinda.

"Um, it was mine first but whatever!" corrected Glinda but then she smiled when Elphaba casted her a glare.

"I thought you would want it back since you're now in Oz," said Glinda sheepishly.

"You took this?" asked Elphaba putting the infamous hat back on her head.

"Took it back," defended Glinda, "But yes, I did. It was after you… melted at Kiamo Ko. I was still there and no one else was around and I just wanted something to remember you by. And that's when I found the green bottle as well, it was under the hat."

"But why did you have it here, and in your closet?" asked Elphaba, curiously.

Glinda turned paler in the lantern light and she swallowed hard. She mumbled something and Elphaba didn't quite hear it.

"Glin, why did you have my hat at Mockbeggar?" repeated Elphaba more sternly this time.

This time Glinda spoke up, "Because I have a whole box labeled 'Elphie' with all of your stuff in it."

Elphaba felt her body stiffen and she looked at Glinda for a long time.

"You have a box with my name on it," she repeated.

Glinda nodded, and looked down at her feet.

"Why?" asked Elphaba softly, now realizing what she and Fiyero had really done to Glinda when they had left her alone two years ago.

"Because I missed you, both of you. And I couldn't have it in the Palace, too many servants going through my stuff and so I kept it here. We didn't have as much staff here anyways, and I knew that Chuffrey only came here for a few days or so each year."

"And what about you?"

"Me," repeated Glinda, and she laughed nervously, "Well darling I had a whole land to rule so I barely came here anyways. But just knowing that it was here made me feel so much better."

A lingering silence came through the Hall and both women were silent for a moment.

"Glinda, I'm sorry. Really I-"

"Do you know what I used to do?" snapped Glinda suddenly furious, "I used to have a whole day were I would lock myself in my room and cry for you and Fiyero! I would never let anyone in, not even Chuffrey and I would bawl my eyes out! Not to even mention the nightmares I had about you dying, or about me being left all alone! And the fact that I had to celebrate your death for two years and not tell anyone that I was there, and that we were and still are best friends! I had to act like I hated you!"

In her rage, Glinda's eyes had started to tear up and a few tears slid down her cheeks. She sniffled a couple of times, and wiped her nose with the sleeve of her dress, which was not normal for Glinda.

"Glinda, please I am sorry. I- I'm sorry for what we put you through. But we have to move past that. We're still best friends and we're going to defeat Cherrystone or come hell our way. I promise you that I will, I mean Fiyero and I will never leave you alone again," promised Elphaba helping the blonde wipe away her tears even though it did burn her skin.

Glinda sniffled some more, and then her face broke into a watery smile.

"Really?" she squeaked.

Elphaba nodded, "Yes. Now stop crying. It's making me cringe."

Pulling herself together, Glinda stopped crying and then the women hugged tightly for a moment.

Afterwards, they left Glinda's room and returned to the living room. Glinda went to check on the weather and Elphaba sat near the fire.

Lifting the curtains out of the way just a bit, Glinda looked out into the dark, bleary horizon seeing a mass of dark green coming their way.

"Oh Oz, oh Oz, no!" gasped Glinda, knowing immediately what that mass of green was.

"What?" Elphaba snapped her head in Glinda's direction, her face turning worried.

"It's the Gale Force. I know that dark green color anywhere. They're coming for us. We need to hide," said Glinda grabbing Elphaba by the arm and fleeing to the back door of Mockbeggar Hall.

The wind picked up and the heavens poured down on them. Grabbing her hat and making sure it was secure Elphaba turned to Glinda.

"Now what?" she asked.

Glinda chewed on her bottom lip, "I have no idea!"

They both looked at each other, knowing that if they did not come up with a plan soon that they would be trapped.


	19. WANTED Posters and Invisibility Spells

Glinda and Elphaba looked back frequently at the marching army of Gale Force soldiers as they thought of someway to escape.

"What about your broom?" asked Glinda, her face deeply worried and stressed with trying to think of some way to leave on the fly. Her bubble was out of the question, it was too recognizable and even with the storm the Gale Force would still see them leave.

"It's-" Elphaba's hopeful voice immediately vanished as she answered Glinda, "at the Corn Exchange."

Glinda sighed, and then suddenly grabbed Elphaba's arm hard.

"Say it," she commanded and Elphaba looked very confused.

"What?"

"Say the invisibility spell now!" demanded Glinda, biting her lip hard as the army marched closer and she could now hear the captain's shouts and orders.

The rain blew down harder, and Glinda could hear the hisses as Elphaba's skin made contact with the rain.

Mumbling incoherently, Glinda watched as Elphaba said words under her breath, and Glinda waited for some sort of sign to see if they were invisible or not. All she got was Elphaba tugging at her hand, and leading her away from Mockbeggar Hall and into the woods near it.

Madame Morrible entered into Cherrystone's quarters at the Palace with her big fishy hands folded in front of her.

"Yes?" muttered Cherrystone while paying more attention to his maps and WANTED posters of Glinda The Good and Elphaba or The Wicked Witch Of The West.

Morrible fluffed out her white hair nervously, and then regained her composure.

"The Gale Force entered Mockbeggar Hall but the captain says that our Misses Glinda and Elphaba were no where to be found near or on the grounds."

Cherrystone lifted his head up fast, and cursed.

"They didn't find them?" he seethed through his teeth, curling his fists in rage.

Morrible shook her head, and then clasped her hands behind her back and slowly came towards Cherrystone, who was trying not to scream in frustration.

"I have one more plan to get them killed," whispered Morrible sing song-y just loud enough for Cherrystone to hear.

He tried not to show that his ears perked up at that, and that the wheels in his mind had started turning in anticipation of what Morrible's plan was. He, after all, had everything all figured out. Once Morrible told him of this plan, the next day he would send her straight back to Southstairs and get a new accomplice to help him, and he knew exactly who to get. He was through with her, but he knew that this new plan would lead him to Elphaba and Glinda so he put up with her just like he put up with the Uplands coming in his office every day to scream at him obscenities and whatnot.

"And?" inquired Cherrystone, not even trying anymore to pretend to be interested.

"I have a spell that can be used for certain purposes and certain purposes only. And these seem like desperate times, and desperate times call for desperate measures." Saying this Morrible looked oddly regal and ancient as always.

"Yes, yes, what is it?" Impatiently Cherrystone snapped at her, and Morrible smiled crudely. She produced a little green bottle from behind her back and raised her eyebrows when she saw Cherrystone's look of confusion.

"Don't you want to know why you aren't green like Elphaba, but your mother drank the same sort of bottle as Melena Thropp did?" asked Morrible dangling the bottle in his view like an adult teasing a child with a toy.

He didn't answered and she didn't pause to give him time to.

"These bottles are not all the same kind of potion in each one. Some of them have green pigment in them; yours had magic in it, but not the green. And this one," she motioned to the one in her hand, "has the power to bring back the dead. Can you think of one person who would force Elphaba to reveal herself?"

Morrible's face gleamed in excitement, and Cherrystone took the bottle and opened it.

"I've already drank it, dearie. And right now I will summon Miss Nessarose Thropp back from the dead to drag her dear sister out of hiding."

Not able to say a word, Cherrystone watched as Morrible said the spell, and then with a spellbinding burst of light Nessarose Thropp appeared before their eyes.

The storm had now let up in the Vinkus as Fiyero, Chuffrey, and The Wizard trampled through the untamed forests.

"Are there lions in this forest?" asked Chuffrey casually while they all stepped over an fallen tree.

Fiyero raised an eyebrow, and kept his lips clamped. He knew where Chuffrey was going with this, but was determined not to say a word. Fiyero knew that all three of them were trying to distract themselves from the desperate situation at hand.

"And tigers, and bears?" joined in the Wizard after a moment.

"Oh my," exclaimed Chuffrey and Fiyero shot them both a look.

"Not again please, I still have nightmares about being stuck up on that pole from time to time," he shuddered as he said this and then they all came to a halt.

It was two WANTED posters that were taped to one of the trees. One showed Glinda, looking pale and tired, probably from her time at Southstairs, and the other was of Elphaba, the same picture they had used when she first became the Wicked Witch.

Underneath the pictures in capital letters read, WANTED GLINDA THE GOOD AND THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST, IF FOUND REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO HIS OZNESS CHERRYSTONE OR TO MADAME MORRIBLE.

The man all stared horrified at the poster, and it was the Wizard who tore it off the tree and crumpled it up on the ground.

"Come on," said the Wizard gravely, "We may not have as much time as we thought we did."


	20. Back From The Dead

"Elphie, are you sure they can't see us?" whispered Glinda as she peered out from behind a tree in the woods behind Mockbeggar Hall.

"Glinda as I have said a million times, they cannot see us," hissed Elphaba back as she had a large leaf over her head to cover the rain from hitting her.

"Well this is just great!" complained Glinda turning back around from looking at Mockbeggar, and crossed her arms over her chest, "What are we supposed to do now? Do you have a plan?"

Elphaba sighed, "Glinda, this was as far as we both got into whatever plan we were thinking of, and you know that."

Glinda had now started biting the tips of her manicured nails, something she only did when she was very, very frightened.

"Well what should we do? I mean this spell can't last forever Elphie! Sooner or later someone is going to find out where we are."

Elphaba bit her lip in thought. Suddenly her face brightened and she looked at Glinda with hopeful eyes.

"Exactly! Someone or some people should know that we are alive but it has to be the right people…" she trailed off.

"You lost me, Elphie," said Glinda leaning against the tree in her dress.

"I was thinking about your parents," said Elphaba quickly.

Glinda raised an eyebrow, "My parents? Ha- Elphie they didn't even like you up until they saw you try and save me at my execution! What makes you think that they will harbor two fugitives, nevertheless one of them being their daughter?"

"Because they love you, Glinda. And I bet that they will accept me just because you trust me. You're quite a ditz sometimes Glin but you are very intelligent."

Elphaba gave the blonde a wry smile as she adjusted the leaf.

Glinda suppressed a smile, "And how are we getting there? My parents live all the way in Frottica and we're in Godforsaken Munchkinland!"

"I've been working on a certain spell. It's complicated but I think I've perfected it," said Elphaba determined, dropping the leaf to the ground.

"Okay," sighed Glinda letting her fears go, "Say it."

Elphaba took Glinda's hand in her own and began murmuring words under her breath. In a flash they disappeared from behind Mockbeggar and appeared in front of a huge light blue mansion.

"Well, is this the right house?" asked Elphaba to Glinda.

Glinda merely nodded in response, "Sweet Oz, this place hasn't changed."

At that, Elphaba just shook her head and grabbed Glinda's hand.

"Come on, let's go see if this works…"

Back at the Palace Cherrystone could hardly believe his eyes, standing in front of him with the ruby slippers on her feet was Nessarose Thropp. She had been dead for more than ten years and yet, by Morrible's spell, she looked as if she hadn't changed since the year she died.

"I don't understand," moaned Nessa putting her hands to her head, "What happened? At one moment I'm standing in Center Munch giving a quite glorious speech about the Unnamed God and then next it all fades to black."

She looked up, her dark eyes staring at Morrible.

"Madame Morrible? What are you doing here?"

Madame Morrible's face lit up and she briskly walked over to Nessarose, putting an arm around her like she actually cared about her.

"We've been waiting for you to wake up, dearie. You had a little accident, a slight gulch but nothing to worry about. But… there is one thing we've been meaning to tell you since you fell unconscious…" Morrible trailed off, leading Cherrystone to wonder where the hell she was taking this.

"Yes?" said Nessa looking as stern as ever.

"Your sister, Elphaba and your friend, Glinda have taken hostage of Boq. I know, I couldn't believe it at first either but it just shows you how truly wicked both of them really are. Right after your accident Boq was mourning over you at Munchkinland when your sister came down on her broom and took him away somewhere. Glinda mysteriously disappeared shortly afterwards and it was found out that she is working with your sister. You remember how close they were, don't you dearie?"

Nessa's face paled, "I don't understand… why Boq? Why would Elphaba take him? And Glinda… I thought- I thought she was my friend. She was the one who set Boq and I up all those years ago…"

"Some say that she is doing mutations on him with the Grimmerie. And our little Glinda apparently has her own agenda. Some people say that she was the one who set up your little accident in the hopes that it would kill you…"

Nessa gasped, and clasped her hands over her mouth.

"No, you're wrong! She wouldn't do that!"

Morrible nodded gravely, "Oh yes she would. I personally was there with her after the accident and she was happy that you were hurt, she was glad. She even made up rumors to the poor Munchkins saying that you were dead! And Elphaba was no help, with her capturing Boq and whatnot. I guess both of them just wanted to destroy your life so that they could get ahead… how sad, really!"

Cherrystone watched as Nessarose Thropp's face morphed into one of hurt to one of pure and unadulterated hatred for her sister and Glinda.

"I'll kill them both for this," she whispered out loud, clenching up her hands into fists.

Then in a rage she whirled on Morrible, "Where are they?"

Morrible shrugged, and when Nessa landed her gaze on him Cherrystone did the same.

"No one knows, dearie," said Morrible, "They seem to have disappeared. But we were thinking…"

"Yes?" snapped Nessa.

"If you would be able to draw your sister out of hiding and Glinda too. Now let me just warn you that Ozians have thought that you were dead for… years actually but your sister was one to believe it the most. You must convince her and everyone else entirely that you are the real Nessarose Thropp, in the flesh," said Morrible with an evil look in her eyes.

"Yes, if that's what I must do to get Boq back, then so be it," said Nessa standing very regally as she made her decision as to what to do.


	21. Finding

Larena Upland ran to the door when there was a knock on it hurriedly. Her husband soon followed her in a quick pace as well. They thought it was news from Cherrystone about their daughter. They expected to see Gale Force soldiers at their door, and they were in for a surprise when Larena opened the door to see Glinda and Elphaba standing outside.

"Galinda?" she managed out as her eyes swam with tears.

Her daughter's eyes met hers and they embraced each other in a hug.

"Oh, my darling you are alright!" murmured Larena as she closed her eyes in relief. Glinda pulled away shortly afterwards with a smile and tears on her face, "Elphie and I need your help, Momsie and Popsicle," she said as she looked back and forth to her parents. It seemed in that moment that both of them noticed Elphaba. Larena smiled at her warmly and reached out a hand towards her and grasped Elphaba's hand softly.

"Of course, Elphaba please do come in," she said softly as she and her husband moved inside so that the two women could come into the house. Once they entered the mansion, they were instantly greeted by warmth from the house.

"Mother, Father thank you for being so gracious," said Glinda as the door shut behind Elphaba and herself.

"It's our pleasure Galinda," said Highmuster, "But how may I ask are you both alive?"

Glinda looked at Elphaba who decided to speak about now.

"Well, sir," started Elphaba, "Glinda used her bubble charm to help save me when I was drowning, and we've been on the run ever since."

"Oh my dear you poor things, you must be starving," said Larena as she rang for a maid and asked her to bring out some food for the two.

"Thank you, Momsie that would be wonderful," said Glinda as she and Elphaba followed her parents into the dining room.

Elphaba marveled at the décor in Glinda's childhood home. Everything was so ornate and decorated with marble walls and color-coordinated drapery. Everything about the house screamed of elegancy and superiority. Elphaba suddenly realized why Glinda had been so sheltered and so privileged when she came to Shiz. Who wouldn't if they had lived in a house like this their whole life?

"Your house is so beautiful," commented Elphaba to Glinda's parents once the food had been placed around the table and they had started eating.

"Why thank you, Elphaba," said Highmuster.

Elphaba suddenly felt Larena's eyes on her and she looked up to meet the other blonde's gaze.

Larena looked away flustered and embarrassed, "I am sorry, dear it's just that I've never seen such… such skin color before. I didn't mean to stare," she apologized.

Glinda now looked at her mother with deep disapproval, "Mother!" she scolded suddenly realizing that that was probably how she acted when she first saw Elphaba too.

"It's alright Mrs. Upland, I'm used to it by now, or at least I should be," said Elphaba as a joke but it didn't come off as funny as she had hoped because no one else but herself laughed.

"So where have you two been hiding out all this time? Cherrystone," Larena took a moment and gulped, "Cherrystone had been trying to find out if you really died and I threatened him that if you two were really dead," Larena's eyes were now swimming with tears, "that I wanted a proper burial for both of you."

Silence filled the dining room as both Glinda and Elphaba took that in. Glinda felt her heart sink as she realized what she had put her parents through.

"I am so sorry that I put you both through all of that. I can't imagine what you were thinking… thank you though for that gesture Momsie but I promise you that you won't have to threaten Cherrystone again. We're going to defeat him once and for all," said Glinda as she saw tears leaking out of her mother's eyes.

Sobs escaped from her mother's mouth and Larena covered her mouth with her hands as all eyes turned to her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just can't," she managed to get out before she abruptly got up from her chair and ran out of the room, her heels clacking on the wooden floor. Highmuster got up as well, and looked at the two women left in the room one of them being his daughter and said, "Don't worry Galinda and Elphaba, she'll be fine. It's just been very hard on her. Why don't you show Elphaba around while I go to talk to your mother and then we can talk about what you need to defeat Cherrystone."

He left the room shortly after that and Elphaba heard the clatter of Glinda's fork as it fell from her grasp and onto her plate. She looked over at the blonde to see that her eyes were watering.

"Glin, please don't you cry too!" begged Elphaba not sure if she could take another crying spell from either of the blonde Uplands.

Glinda covered her own mouth with her hand as she breathed in and out slowly and tried very hard to resist her tears. When she recovered she looked at Elphaba calmly.

"Sorry," she muttered, "I just got upset. I hate seeing her cry."

"I can't stand to see you cry either, never-mind your mother," said Elphaba sharply but she meant it to be caring.

Glinda gave her a trembling smile in return as they sat there.

"Well," said Glinda suddenly and cheerfully, "Would you like a tour of the house while we wait?"

"We're close," said Fiyero to the two men behind him as they entered the Emerald City. The wind blew against them, as they stood hidden in an alleyway. They were near the Palace by now.

Fiyero could see its green tint glow in the nearby distance.

"What do we do now exactly?" asked Chuffrey as he glanced at Fiyero.

"We go inside of course and kill Cherrystone," said Fiyero.

"Are you just bent on revenge, Fiyero?" asked The Wizard carefully for he knew he was trending in dangerous waters.

"He tried to kill the love of my life and her best friend, of course I would like revenge," snapped Fiyero as he made his move and disappeared into the crowd of people with his cloak surrounding him. Chuffrey and the Wizard soon followed and soon they came to the Palace's gates.

They rapped on the door repeatedly and waited for an answer. A Gale Force guard came out and greeted them.

"Greetings, strangers, what brings you here to the Emerald City?" he asked.

With the Wizard and Chuffrey looking around to make sure no one was watching them, Fiyero did feel bad knocking the poor man unconscious. But as they dragged his body behind the gates as they came in and entered the Palace.

Discreetly hiding behind corners and checking every room Fiyero, Chuffrey and The Wizard managed to elude the guards and maids as they searched for Cherrystone. As they came to the last door in one of the many hallways Fiyero opened the door to find the last person he was expecting to see in there.

"Nessa?" he exclaimed as the younger Thropp sister turned around and faced him.


	22. Meeting Fate

Nessarose stared at Fiyero for a moment, and then looked behind him at his followers. Her brow creased in confusion.

"Fiyero?" she said hesitantly, "I don't understand… why do you look so surprised to see me?"

Fiyero closed his mouth for he had just noticed that it had been gaping at Nessa. He ran a hand through his hair as he fumbled for the right words.

"Well, I-I thought you were dead. We all did, all of Oz still does. Nessa, you were killed by that flying house… you're not supposed to be here…. Did you fake your own death as well?"

"I don't know what in Oz's name you're talking about, Fiyero!" snapped Nessa as she wheeled herself forward to him, "All I want to know is where Elphaba and Glinda have taken Boq."

Her stern porcelain face was set as she waited for an answer. Her dark brown eyes had turned cold and harsh, unlike what Fiyero remembered them looking like back at Shiz. Her hands gripped her chair tightly, almost as if she would break off the armrests if she were angry enough.

Fiyero looked back at the Wizard and Chuffrey for help but both of them seemed as confused and entranced as Fiyero did.

"Nessa, Boq was turned into a tin man by Elphaba in order to save his life. He is now in Southstairs by the order of Cherrystone. Elphaba and Glinda did not take him," explained Fiyero.

Nessa gritted her teeth, "That's not what Madame Morrible said to me."

Fiyero's eyes widened, "You're actually still listening to that old carp? Nessa, you have to believe me. Elphaba and Glinda are in danger and they need your help. Or else Cherrystone and Morrible will kill us all. You don't want to die again, do you?"

He was becoming frustrated. Why didn't Nessa remember?

"I don't remember dying in the first place!" hissed Nessa, "And why should I trust you? What have you ever done that was trustworthy?"

Fiyero was exasperated. It was hard dealing with Elphaba at times, but it was nearly impossible to deal with Nessarose. She was set in her own opinions, views, and ways and was even more stubborn than Elphaba. Fiyero didn't blame her, but he just wished that for once she could be accepting.

"Nessa, please listen to me, Cherrystone and Morrible are going to kill everyone you care about, even Boq. They don't care about you. You're," Fiyero stopped knowing that these next few words were going to hurt, "You're a worthless pawn in their game and they'll send you right back to your grave as soon as they get the chance. I know that you and Elphaba did not get along very much but do you really want your only sister and her best friend killed? Do you really want to act that selfish, Nessa?"

Her face gaped open. She became defensive very quickly.

"No, of course not. But I mean after what she did to me, can I really forgive her? Don't you remember Fiyero? She left us, she left all of us."

Fiyero bent down and looked straight into the younger Thropp's face seriously.

"I'm not asking you to forgive her, I'm asking you to help her," he said softly. He turned around, "We don't have much time," his gaze turned back to Nessa, "Now will you or will you not help us help Elphaba and Glinda?"

Nessa took a moment to pause, and that hesitation lasted a lifetime to Fiyero, Chuffrey and the Wizard.

"I believe I will help out but-"

And just like that, right before their very eyes, Nessarose seemed to disintegrate and soon she was gone completely.

Fiyero was flabbergasted, "What in the world?" he exclaimed.

But then he heard cackling from behind him, and the three men whirled around.

Madame Morrible stood behind them her expression half pity while the other was half amusement.

At the Upland's mansion Glinda and Elphaba had just finished a tour of the house, with Elphaba putting in her own two cents about why the Uplands had half the stuff that they did every two seconds, and they were now in the parlor room with Highmuster and Larena.

"I am terribly sorry for my actions at dinner," apologized Larena looking at Elphaba, "I didn't mean to let my emotions get the best of me."

"It's quite alright Mrs. Upland," said Elphaba as she shifted on the couch next to Glinda.

"Are you alright now, Mother?" asked Glinda.

The two blondes exchanged glances.

"Quite, darling," said Larena quickly. She fiddled with her hands.

"Would you like something to drink, Elphaba? Some wine perhaps?" asked Larena almost nervously.

Both Glinda and Elphaba exchanged nervous glances. Something was up with Glinda's mother but neither of them could put a finger on it.

"That would be fine, Larena thank you," said Elphaba after a moment.

Larena got up and went to the kitchen to fetch some wine herself, which was quite odd.

"Popsicle," started Glinda once her mother was gone, "What's wrong with her?"

Highmuster sighed and looked at his daughter.

"She's just shaken up, Galinda. She doesn't want you two to try and defeat Cherrystone. She has every confidence in you but even still she can't help but think about the worst outcome."

Glinda sighed; she knew how her mother felt.

"Tell her she doesn't need to worry. Cherrystone is dealing with Oz's most powerful witches by the way," added in Elphaba.

Larena came back into the room then with a glass of red wine in her hands.

"Here you go, darling," said Larena as she gave the glass to Elphaba. Elphaba took it and held it in her grasp for a moment.

"Aren't you going to drink it, or do you not want anything?" piped up Larena when she noticed that Elphaba had not taken one sip. The older blonde met her husband's gaze for a moment and then it turned back to Elphaba. Glinda was watching all of this. But nothing was clicking in the blonde's brain at the moment; she would only realize what was happening when it was too late.

"Mother, what are you-" asked Glinda but Elphaba interrupted her.

"Of course I'll drink it," she said even though she wasn't quite sure what was going on. But Elphaba trusted Glinda and by extension she trusted Glinda's parents. Why should she doubt them at this point anyways?

So Elphaba took the glass, brought it to her lips, and swallowed the cool liquid down her throat.

"Oh the poor dear," falsely fretted Morrible as she made her way past the three men to where Nessarose had been sitting in her wheelchair just moments ago, "She really did believe all my lies, didn't she?"

Morrible laughed, "Good thing I got rid of her before she could do anything."

"Where is she now?" asked Fiyero, suddenly not afraid of Morrible.

"Back in her grave. I only needed her to do one thing and that was to distract you long enough. You still refuse to believe that I know everything, don't you?"

"You don't know everything," spoke up the Wizard, "If you did then you would have known that I was never gone, or where Elphaba and Glinda are!"

Morrible's smug smiled turned into a frown, "That's true, I guess. But I know enough to thwart your plans to try and save them and kill Cherrystone and I."

"Now," said Morrible as she conjured up a whirling twister of fog that engulfed the three men and forced them against the wall, "Where are Glinda and Elphaba?"

None of them answered and suddenly the twister of fog turned into fire and it was getting dangerously close to all of their skin.

"We're not gonna talk!" yelled Chuffrey through the whirling flames, "You'll have to kill us first!"

Morrible cackled once more and she stepped through the flames so that she was in front of all of them, "Oh trust me, that's what I plan to do…" she smiled evilly at them and the twister of fire disappeared with the snap of her fingers.

Suddenly they heard running and a soldier appeared at the doorway breathless and wheezing with a note in his hands.

"Madame Morrible," he said as he held out the note for her, "I think you want to read this and show this to Cherrystone."

Morrible snatched up the note, opened it, and reread it several times before she said anything. Then her lips curved into a cruel smile and she looked up at all three of them.

"You're too late," she laughed joyously, "You're all too late! Elphaba is dead!"


	23. Two Is Better Than One

As soon as Elphaba drank the wine she collapsed to the floor. Glinda jolted up from the couch in fear and tried to wake up Elphaba.

"Elphie?" Glinda's voice came out small and scared, like it had been at Shiz before she had any courage to talk to the green bean.

Her sapphire eyes snapped up to meet her mother's eyes. Her face paled considerably and Glinda's mouth hung open.

"Mother, what have you done?"

Glinda's voice came out as cold as ice.

Larena did not look at her daughter in the eyes. She fidgeted with her hands, looking for dirt beneath her nails nervously.

"Did-did you kill her?" The younger blonde's voice faltered as realization sunk in. She looked between Elphaba's still form and her mother's in horror.

"I did what I had to do to keep you both safe," was all Larena said.

Glinda's eyes were clouded with tears, and her breath was hitched.

"You killed her to keep us both safe? Mother, that is not keeping BOTH of us safe! You were just trying to keep me safe… Mother she was my best friend!"

Glinda couldn't keep her emotions hidden anymore, tears spilled down her face and her shoulders shook with grief.

"I had to do what I did," defended Larena quietly, softly, "Cherrystone would have killed you both. He only wanted her anyways."

"No, you're wrong." Glinda looked at her mother sharply, "He wants me dead as well. And now you've only given him half of what he wants. He'll come for me next Mother."

Larena strode over to her daughter, and reached out a hand to touch her face gently, warmly as any mother would. Glinda flinched and took a step back from her.

"He won't darling. I'll make sure of it," assured Larena with a trying smile. Her eyes turned hopeful as she searched her daughter's face for any signs of approval.

"I can't trust you anymore," spoke Glinda in a soft voice that was barely above a whisper. Her eyes met her mother's and they were filled with sadness and fear. Glinda took another step back, and then another. She felt her body grow faint as the cogs in her brain were turning.

Her mother had killed Elphaba, poisoned her at the least. Her own mother. The woman who had raised her, and taught her to be a lady… had killed her only friend.

It was the moment in Glinda's life when she realized that she could trust no one but herself.

Her eyes glanced back and forth between her mother and father. Her loyalties felt divided. Her heart felt like it was breaking. Elphaba was dead, Cherrystone was after her, and her parents were cohorts in her friend's real murder.

"I can't win," voiced the blonde as it hit her. Without Elphaba Glinda was powerless, and even less courageous to fight against Cherrystone. She knew that Cherrystone would stop at nothing to kill her, and Glinda couldn't beat him.

"Of course you can, Galinda," said her father gently. Glinda saw that her mother nodded in encouragement as well.

"I don't stand a chance, I never have and I never did. Elphaba was always the one who stood up for the things she believed in."

"Darling you can do anything, we've always told you that," said her mother.

Glinda looked at her with an expression that Larena could not read.

"I have to go," sputtered out Glinda hastily.

She picked up her skirts and headed towards the door in a fast pace. She needed time, time to think about all of this, time to think about how she should proceed next with Elphaba dead, with Fiyero, Chuffrey and The Wizard supposedly gone from Oz, and with Cherrystone catching up to her.

"Not so fast there, missy," interrupted a voice as soon as Glinda's pale fingertips touched the doorknob. She turned around, and there was Morrible and Cherrystone both smiling cruelly.

Fearful, Glinda tried turning the knob but found that it would not open the door. Behind her, she heard Morrible cackling.

"Let me go, Elphaba is dead at last. That's all you've ever wanted, isn't it?"

"Not quite," spoke up Cherrystone.

Her eyes flickered back and forth between Morrible and Cherrystone and Glinda noticed that Fiyero, Chuffrey and The Wizard were behind them held down by guards.

"Well I won't be killed by your hand," said Glinda determinedly.

Cherrystone's eyebrows furrowed at that statement from the blonde.

"What do you-" but before Cherrystone could finish his sentence Glinda snapped her fingers and moved her entire being into the parlor room where her mother and father still were in.

"You called Cherrystone?" she whispered furiously to her mother, frantically looking at the door in fear of when and if Cherrystone would figure out where she had gone.

"What? No I didn't-" Larena looked quite upset at this piece of news. Her mouth opened and closed while her brain was working fast.

Her eyes turned to her daughter as she picked up the wine glass that had fallen onto the floor after Elphaba had drunk it.

"Glinda, do you trust me?"

Her mother's question startled the blonde as Larena held out the glass to her daughter. Glinda could see that there was still some liquid pooled at the bottom of the glass.

"Mother, I don't understand," said Glinda as she took a step back and kept her hands at her side.

"Drink it," demanded Larena shoving the glass into her daughter's hand. Glinda wanted to drop it, but something compelled her to keep it in her grasp.

"Mother, it will kill me," stated Glinda. Footsteps were heard suddenly and Glinda knew she only had a few more moments before Cherrystone would come and take her away.

"No, it won't. Please, Glinda trust me…"

Her mother's blue eyes looked trusting, too sincere for her to be lying. Glinda opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. She had to make a decision and make it fast.

So without a second thought or choice, Glinda swallowed the rest of wine quickly and fell to the floor in a heap just as the door was opening.


	24. Death and The Truth

Faye could just feel that something was wrong in the pit of her stomach. Her face turned serious, and she kept thinking about what could happen that could be so wrong. Maybe Cherrystone had killed them already. Or maybe there was a huge fight that was going on and she didn't even know it. Faye paced around the empty castle with Priscilla and Ella trying to entertain themselves on the stone floor by playing tic-tac-toe.

"Okay, Faye, your turn," said Priscilla. Faye looked over at them, her eyes not really focused.

"I can't," she said, "I can't stop thinking that they are not okay. Chistery should have been back days ago and he's not here. There's been no word from Fiyero or Chuffrey or The Wizard. Something is wrong!"

Frustrated she groaned and returned her gaze out of the window.

"Faye, I'm sure they'll come back soon, it's a long journey back here," assured Ella quietly after a moment of silence.

"But what if things are going bad? What if they're dead and we just don't know it?" she asked fiercely. She turned around to wait for an answer from either of them, but they sat there silent under Faye's gaze.

They all turned towards the front door when they heard rapid knocking.

"Who is it?" called out Faye cautiously as she stepped towards the large door.

"It's me, Chistery!" called out the voice behind the door.

Faye opened the door to find the monkey holding a leather bound book in his arms.

"What took you so long?" she scolded, "You had me worried sick."

She looked behind him for signs of Fiyero, Chuffrey and The Wizard but they weren't behind Chistery.

"Elphaba and Glinda are dead," said Chistery solemnly.

Cherrystone and Madame Morrible burst into the Upland's parlor room to see a horrific sight. Mrs. and Mr. Upland were standing together near the corner while Elphaba and Glinda lay collapsed, most likely dead, on the carpeted floor.

"I had to, I just had to," sobbed Larena into her husband's chest as her arms wrapped around him in despair. She couldn't bear to look at the still form of her own daughter, though she knew what was the truth, even still she could not look.

Cherrystone was the first one in the room to move. He crossed the floor to where Elphaba and Glinda lay and checked both of their wrists for pulses.

He looked up after checking both women and his face was filled with glee.

"It's true, they really are both dead," he said slowly as if he even could not believe it.

"No, you're wrong!" roared a voice and everyone turned to see Fiyero struggling furiously against the guards, "They can't be!"

Cherrystone laughed slightly as if he was mocking him.

"They are," he said as he let both of the women's arms fall back onto the floor with a sickening thud.

"You're not going to get away with this," threatened Chuffrey to Larena in a low growling voice, "How could you? Your own daughter?"

Larena's tear-filled eyes provided enough of an answer for all of them.

Madame Morrible began to cackle, her whole body quivering and shaking.

"I can't believe it! I've waited so long for these nuances to be out of my way and now they're both dead within a single day. Now how exactly should we tell our dear Ozians what happened," the older woman was rambling on, "And I hope they won't react badly to a change in the government…"

She let her words float in the air in silence as everyone processed what she had just said. After a few seconds there was a simultaneous gasps of, "What?"

Morrible turned to Cherrystone, a small sly smile on her wrinkled face.

"You honestly thought that I'd let you continue your reign once these two were finished with? It was I who helped you with your plan."

She smiled cruelly at Cherrystone.

His dark eyes stared on hers and for a moment the tense air seemed to linger on forever.

"Well I intended to lock you up before you ever got the chance," spoke Cherrystone to Morrible.

"Too bad you missed your chance," muttered Morrible as she mumbled a spell under her breath causing Cherrystone to stop moving.

"What are you planning to do with me?" he choked out from his unmovable state. His eyes never left hers as the crazy educator paced around him.

Everyone else seemed to watch in silence. The Gale Force soldiers had no idea of who to follow orders from. Their eyes flickered between Morrible and Cherrystone as they watched the scene play out.

"Oh, you're a smart man," mocked Madame Morrible with a snort, "I'm sure you can figure it out."

Suddenly she mumbled incoherent words again and then reached out a hand towards Cherrystone's chest. Miraculously her hand went through his skin like it was water and she pulled out his heart. Crushing it in her hand like it was dust Cherrystone immediately slumped to the floor, dead.

In the room, everyone else didn't know whether to shout in praise or to run away screaming. They all seemed spellbound and shocked at what had just taken place right in front of their eyes. Amidst the silence, Morrible began to laugh, a throaty choked up laugh. The sound all hurt their ears and they watched as she smiled to herself.

"Three down, and the rest of Oz to go," she mused with a wicked smile.

"Are you so sure about that?" piped up Larena. She had in her hands one of the wine glasses that Elphaba or Glinda had drank from. She held it out to Morrible, "You should really see for yourself."

Morrible just laughed at her, "You think that I am stupid enough to drink it myself? No," she shook her head and snapped her fingers, "bring Fiyero forward."

As the guards brought Fiyero forward he gave Mrs. Upland a look of utter betrayal and pursed his lips. He still couldn't believe that that woman had killed her own daughter and her friend. It was despicable to Fiyero to even think of such things, and now he was going to die because of her too.

Morrible snatched away the glass and shoved it into one of Fiyero's hands.

"Don't drink it, Fiyero!" called out the Wizard and Chuffrey nodded his head in fierce agreement.

"If you don't drink it then I will shove it down your throat," threatened Morrible as she nodded encouragingly to the Winkie prince. Fiyero pondered over drinking it for a mere moment and then he decided that all would be better if he were with Glinda and Elphaba wherever they were in the Afterlife.

He put the glass to his lips and drank some of the wine that was left in the glass. He closed his eyes and waited for his death.

But nothing happened.

Everyone waited and waited and was astonished when Fiyero did not keel over dead at any point.

Morrible looked beyond frustrated and mad.

"What in the world?" she fumed as she took the glass away from the prince and held it to her own lips. As she took a drink from it, tasting the last remainders of the wine Fiyero noticed that Larena's lips were moving, almost as if she was chanting something.

When Morrible was done drinking the wine she gulped and sighed. Then suddenly she went pale and started to shake. The next thing they all knew, Morrible collapsed onto the floor.

"Is she-?" asked Fiyero as he stared at Morrible's unmoving body.

Larena walked over, checked her pulse and smiled a small smile, "She is indeed," Mrs. Upland declared.

Fiyero was perplexed, as was everyone else except Larena Upland.

"But how? I mean am I going to die like that?" he asked.

She shook her head, "No, you'll be fine."

Fiyero's eyes moved to where Glinda and Elphaba lay on the floor. He couldn't stand the thought of them really being dead.

"And what about them?" he asked quietly.

Larena looked at him, her blue eyes in sorrow. Her words came hesitantly, "They… are dead. I'm sorry…"

Not voicing his suspicions about that, Fiyero let her words sink in and suddenly he felt lonely and terribly angry.

"Leave us, go back to the city and tell everyone that the tyrants Cherrystone and Morrible are dead," commanded Larena with full-fledged authority searing in her voice. The guards that held the captive men left quite quickly without another word.

Now that they were alone, it was just the three men and the Uplands surrounded by four dead people.

"I don't understand," moaned Chuffrey as tears glistened in his eyes as he took in Glinda's dead form.

The Wizard felt a lump of regret form in his throat as he looked at Elphaba, and he had to turn away for a moment.

It was Fiyero that did not look at either Glinda or Elphaba but instead he looked at Larena.

"Before Morrible took that drink, you were mumbling something… what was it?" he asked.

Larena looked at him with confusion, "I don't know what you mean," she dismissed quickly. She turned her head away from him, her blonde curls hiding what expression her face wore. Under his harsh gaze she blushed and Fiyero found that he could not crack this woman no matter how hard he tried.

He got up from the ground, and placed a hand on her forearm.

"Please Mrs. Upland, are they really dead? Did you really kill your own daughter and her best friend?"

He needed to know the answer. It was killing him that he even thought that she was lying to him about it.

She looked at him and in that moment she looked exactly like Glinda.

"We must keep all of Oz believing that I did, for now, for their sakes until all of the chaos dies down…"


	25. The End

Just about everyone in Oz attended the large funeral procession for Elphaba and Glinda. There were no words of hatred or of cruelty spoken from anyone. Everyone was silent as the coffins lay on the ground. There was a sense of solemn silence and grief in the air, especially from Chuffrey, The Wizard, Faye, and Fiyero.

"I just can't believe they're dead," sobbed Faye as she cried into her handkerchief upon looking at the two coffins.

Fiyero said nothing, and he promised Larena that he would say nothing until the funerals were over. Only he and Larena knew the truth and they intended on keeping it that way until today was over.

As a chill wind blew across the land, Fiyero caught Larena's eye and she gave him a faint half-smile. Both of them were playing the grief card quite well, and they were using it to their advantage.

"I'm surprised that there hasn't been any uproars yet," mumbled Fiyero to Chuffrey.

The other man nodded, "Me too. But I guess the citizens of Oz realized that the real monster was Cherrystone and not Elphaba."

"Yeah, I guess so," replied Fiyero as his eyes gazed at the two coffins.

If he hadn't known that Glinda and Elphaba weren't really dead, Fiyero guessed that he would have been inconsolable. He would have been desperately in grief, and he was sort of glad that he didn't have to go through that.

Though as he watched everyone else shed tears for Elphaba and Glinda, he only wished that they could know too.

It will be more rewarding when they know later," thought Fiyero to himself as the preacher droned on and on about life and death and how precious it was.

After Faye had stopped crying, she linked her hand in Fiyero's.

"Are you alright?" she asked, looking at him with soft eyes.

He nodded, afraid that if he did anything else he would give the secret away.

"I'll be fine," he whispered after a moment and he avoided her eyes.

"You sure?"

Her question almost made Fiyero slip up. He bit his bottom lip fiercely and he nodded his head up and down slowly.

"Yeah, really Faye I'm sure."

She shook her head with her curls swaying in the breeze as the crowd soon faded.

"I still can't believe they're gone. It's just so horrible to know that the two kindest people in this world are dead…" Faye was quick to add, "And one of their own mother's killed them too. It's just horrid."

"Don't be too hard on her," murmured Fiyero as a group of citizens passed by them, "And if you're good, I'll let you in on a secret…"

He trailed off, giving her just enough information to keep her interested.

"What do you mean?" she turned and looked at him.

Fiyero pursed his lips but said nothing; which infuriated Faye to no end.

"Do you know something that I don't?" she accused.

Chuffrey and The Wizard had now caught on to their conversation and they moved towards Fiyero and Faye.

'What's going on?" asked The Wizard looking at Fiyero suspiciously.

"Nothing," shrugged the prince as the coffins were put into the ground and covered with dirt.

"Fiyero," said Chuffrey in a warning tone.

"Fiyero knows something and he won't tell anyone," cut in Faye with a glare towards the prince.

Suddenly and thankfully on Fiyero's part Larena intervened by coming over towards the group.

"Is everything alright?" Without waiting for an answer from anyone, she continued with, "Everyone is going to the city for the reception but I wanted to talk to you all beforehand. Could you meet me by the graves?" Her voice was soft, gentle and commanding all at once. It was the kind of voice that you could never say no to.

Everyone nodded at the same time, and the prying questions of before had vanished as quickly as they had come.

Footsteps echoed on the ground as everyone made their way towards the graves of Elphaba and Glinda.

Fiyero looked at the lonely headstones stuck into the ground with sadness in his heart even though he knew the truth. He couldn't imagine how he would feel if it all turned out to be a lie.

Looking around, Fiyero realized that it was just them in the graveyard, everyone else having gone by now.

Larena cleared her throat, drawing the attention of them all. She stood besides her husband holding his hand in one of hers.

"I have a confession to make," she started off with.

At that statement grumbles erupted from the small group but Larena silenced them with a glare.

"They're not dead," she declared after a moment.

"What?" was the sound that echoed for miles around the graveyard from Faye, the Wizard, Chuffrey, and Chistery.

"I don't understand," stammered Faye nervously, "You didn't-" she gulped and looked down at the graves in horror, "You didn't bury them alive, did you Mrs. Upland?"

"Does this mean that Morrible isn't dead either?" shot Chuffrey, his face turning angry at the news.

Mrs. Upland's face turned quite cold as she hissed out, "No. I made sure that she was dead, Sir Chuffrey."

While that answered Chuffrey's question, Faye's still had been unanswered.

"But what about what I said?" she piped up again, "Did you bury them alive?"

Larena looked at the girl and gave her a faint ghost of a smile, "Not quite, dear."

She mumbled something under her breath and waved her hand daintily over the graves. The dirt and grass crumbled away to reveal the two coffins to them. After that the coffins rose up from their place in the earth and landed next to the hole.

The lids of the decorated boxes fell open and showed the two supposed 'undead' bodies.

They all slowly followed Larena to where the coffins were. Everyone, even Fiyero, seemed a bit hesitant to watch what was about to happen. He could only hope that it would even work.

"If they're not dead, then what did you do to them that was different from what you did to Morrible?" asked the Wizard cautiously to Larena.

The woman looked at him and smiled, "Galinda's not the only witch in the family. I used to brew potions back when I was younger and for Elphaba and Glinda I used a sleeping potion but one that made them appear dead. Their hearts appear to be frozen, their color drains but it's all an illusion. They're not really dead," explained the blonde woman.

"For Morrible," she continued, "I gave her a deadly poison that killed her as soon as it entered her body."

Everyone stared at the blonde after she said that.

"So why didn't I die when I drank it?" asked Fiyero as his eyes drifted to where Elphaba and Glinda lay motionless in their coffins.

"You didn't die because I took out the sleeping potion right before you drank it, and put in the deadly poison right when Morrible reached for the glass," said Larena with a slight smile.

Fiyero for once was quite speechless and impressed by what Larena did.

"So how do we wake them up?" asked Chuffrey, his face pained as he looked at the lifeless form of Glinda.

"Simple," the curves of Larena's mouth lifted up into a smile, "with a kiss."

Her eyebrow arched, "I do expect that both of you know which one you are kissing, just so we don't get mixed up here," she said as she looked to Fiyero and Chuffrey.

They both nodded. Chuffrey went over to Glinda's coffins and Fiyero to Elphaba's.

"So we just kiss them and they wake up?" asked Fiyero who was a bit doubtful.

He glanced at Elphaba's face and then back up at Larena," She's not going to turn into some flesh eating zombie though, right?" he said nervously. Though it seemed ridiculous to even ask, Fiyero couldn't help himself and his question was deadly serious.

"No," laughed Larena as Highmuster's arm gently made it way around her waist, pulling her closer to him, "I promise she will not be a zombie or a vampire or anything else for that matter. She will just be herself."

With that settled, Fiyero looked down at Elphaba's face with hope in his eyes.

"I love you," he whispered right before he pressed his lips against hers. Fiyero closed his eyes and waited. As the seconds passed the hope that had been radiating inside of him seemed to simmer down. He waited and waited.

Finally he felt a hand on his face and he opened his eyes to see Elphaba kissing him back with one hand on the prince's face.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Glinda was wrapped in Chuffrey's arms, the two of them kissing fiercely than they had beforehand.

Fiyero wanted to continue the kiss, but he pulled away for different reasons.

"Fiyero," whispered Elphaba as she ran a hand down the side of his face lovingly.

Fiyero cupped her chin with one hand just looked at her. Pride and happiness beamed in him.

"Elphaba…" She looked better than she had before. She looked radiant, glowing emerald, her eyes bright and alive, her hair shining in the sunlight, and her dress clung to her form.

Giggling distracted the prince for a moment and he turned to see Glinda being carried bridal-style out of her coffin by Chuffrey. Her voluminous dress splayed out around her when she stood on the ground and she looked back at him and Elphaba with those blue eyes that were even bluer than he had ever seen them.

"Chuffers, stop!" she squealed as Chuffrey had his lips on her neck and she squirmed, more embarrassed than anything else, "Not here," she hissed at him.

Chuffrey pulled his lips away and seemed content with having his arms engulfing the blonde woman's waist.

"What happened?" asked Elphaba suddenly, pulling Fiyero away from the 'Gluffrey' display of affection.

"You mean, you don't remember?" asked Fiyero, wondering if she now had amnesia. His brow creased in worry.

"The last thing I remember is drinking that wine that Larena gave to me… but that's it," said Elphaba wearily. She shot a glare Mrs. Upland's way and then looked down at the coffin she was in.

When she looked back up into Fiyero's face, fear and confusion were forming in hers.

"Fiyero," she said slowly, "Why am I in a coffin?"

Fiyero laughed, he hadn't meant to but it had escaped his lips before it could be stopped. He smiled down at Elphaba and kissed the bridge of her nose softly, "It doesn't matter anymore. You're safe and alive, both of you are."

"But what about Morrible and Cherrystone?" the green woman asked.

"Morrible took out Cherrystone's heart and crushed it, killing him instantly and then Larena conjured up a deadly poison that killed Morrible when she drank it. She gave you and Glinda a sleeping potion that made you look like you were dead when you really weren't," said the Wizard to his daughter.

Elphaba and Glinda looked to the older blonde in amazement and surprise.

"Momsie? You really did that for us?" the younger blonde questioned towards her mother, "But I thought-"

Larena's eyes shone with tears, "I told you once, Galinda and I will tell you again; I will always be there to protect you."

Glinda's heart melted a bit when her mother said that, and with tears in her eyes Glinda ran over like a little girl and hugged her mother and father.

"Thank you for saving us," whispered Glinda to her mother.

"Always," she said in reply as she let go of her daughter.

The wind blew across the graveyard and everyone realized that it was getting dark.

"Chistery," said Larena to the snow monkey, "Do you have the item that I told you to bring?"

The monkey nodded as he hobbled forward with The Grimmerie in his grasp. He gave it to Larena who gave it to Glinda.

"You must leave here, leave Oz forever. Now that both of you are considered dead you will have a chance of starting new in another place," said Larena a bit choked up.

Tears glistened in her eyes as Glinda took the book and held it against her chest.

"Momsie, I'm not going anywhere. We can stay right here and-"

It was Chuffrey who interrupted her.

"No, we can't," he said firmly and with a look towards Elphaba and Fiyero he said, "And neither can you two. We all must leave."

"But Chuffers…" protested Glinda but no words came to her mind. Her body felt all void of emotion as she took in the information that she had just received.

She turned back towards her mother, sadness suddenly filling her.

"Go now or I will send you away myself," managed Larena sternly. But underneath it was the undertones of sadness and hurt.

Glinda took a breath and with it she made the courage inside of her swell up. She nodded briskly, and gave her parents one last long hug each.

"I love you," she said to each of them and they responded with the same.

Meanwhile Fiyero helped Elphaba out of the coffin and onto the ground. She dusted off her dress, purposely not getting into the sentimental goodbyes.

After Glinda said goodbye to her parents, she noticed that Faye was crying as well.

"Oh Faye," said the blonde witch as she enveloped the girl into a fierce hug, "It will be alright. Can you promise me something?"

Faye nodded unable to do anything while her rapid waterfall of tears fell from her eyes.

"Will you take care of Oz for me, will you rule it well?"

At the realization that Glinda was asking Faye to rule Oz the girl began to cry harder. Tears welled up in Glinda's eyes as well and her throat felt constricted as she tried to get the last few words she had to say to the girl out without breaking down.

"Not by yourself of course, but you, Priscilla and Ella have proved yourselves far more than capable to do this. And besides I'm sure my parents will look after you." At this Glinda smiled as a single tear ran down her own cheek.

"So do you promise to do well for me, Faye?"

Faye took one look at Glinda and began to cry in her embrace. Glinda hugged her back and whispered comforting words to the girl.

"You're going to be great, I just know it," said Glinda to Faye as she let go of the crying girl and moved on to Chistery.

"Thank you," she murmured as she stroked his fur, "I couldn't have done this without you."

The monkey bowed its head in acknowledgement but said nothing to her. Glinda knew that he meant goodbye.

Straightening herself up, Glinda moved towards the Wizard.

"Can I trust you now or are you still a pathetic excuse for a wizard?" she asked coldly.

"You can trust me," said the Wizard earnestly. He looked her right in the eyes and Glinda felt honesty about his words and his actions. He had, after all, helped saved them in one-way or another.

Glinda gulped, thinking of what to do.

"I'll allow you to stay here, as a consultant to Faye and her friends as rulers but nothing more than that. Do you understand me? I don't offer second chances to often, Oscar so you better not mess up!"

He nodded, "I promise this time I will try to help. Really I will."

After glaring at him for quite some time, Glinda came to the conclusion that maybe he really could be trusted. He wasn't such a bad guy, more like a good man such in a very uncompromising situation.

"Alright then," said Glinda in a firm voice.

She turned back to where Elphaba, Fiyero and Chuffrey were when she realized that there was nothing more she could say or could think of to say.

"What about you Elphie? Aren't you going to say goodbye?" pressed Glinda as she returned to Chuffrey's side and realized that the green woman hadn't moved.

"I don't do goodbyes," she said sharply. When she said this, Glinda's face dropped in deep disapproval and Elphaba felt compelled to defend herself.

"But," her brown eyes looked to the people who remaining behind. Larena and Highmuster, Faye, The Wizard, and Chistery all looked at her waiting, "Thank you all… for everything."

A pause stayed prolonged in the air for a while.

"You're welcome, Elphaba," said Larena finally with a smile.

Feelings of sadness began to form in Elphaba as she looked at Larena and was suddenly reminded of her own mother. But she quickly shot down those feelings by taking a deep breath.

She gave them all a final nod and began to look in the Grimmerie for the spell that they had used to get them to the Other World.

She finally found it, and when she did she gathered the people who were leaving around her.

"Off to the Other World with other adventures ahead of us," said Elphaba to Glinda with a smile.

But Glinda didn't smile back.

"Promise?" she whispered shyly. She didn't voice her true reasons why she asked such a question but Elphaba knew in an instant what she wanted.

"We'll do it together, I promise," Elphaba said softly.

Glinda's somber face broke into a smile at last.

'Let's just try not to get killed this time, shall we?" she laughed.

Elphaba smirked, "I'll try," she said.

With that, Elphaba linked her hand with Fiyero's and then extended her other hand towards Glinda. Before she grabbed Elphaba's hand, Glinda reached for Chuffrey's.

"We're never being separated ever again," she murmured as she kissed his lips.

Chuffrey smiled as he returned the kiss, "Never," he whispered as he grabbed her hand gently.

Now with Chuffrey's hand in hers, Glinda looked towards her best friend's hand. A thousand feelings swirled inside of her, but the overwhelming one was one of utter happiness. A smile radiated across her face as she took Elphaba's hand and the green witch conjured up a portal to take them to the Other World.

"Together?" asked Elphaba, as they were about to jump.

Glinda looked back to where Faye and her parents were standing with smiles on their faces. She was going to miss them surely but she knew that she would be happy with Chuffrey, Elphaba and Fiyero in the Other World.

With her eyes back on her best friend, Glinda nodded.

"Together," she said firmly.

They jumped, and left behind the world they once knew to end up in someplace better, someplace where there were no more lies or secrets. No more hiding, no more lying to anyone. Nobody had to hide his or her true feelings behind closed doors anymore. They were off to a land where they could start fresh, start a new life.

Someplace where they were all together…. Somewhere over the rainbow and out of Oz.

THE END


End file.
